FACTBOX-Is the cold war returning?

(Reuters) - Russia's test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday was in response to U.S. steps that have sparked an arms race and undermined world security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

The United States is at loggerheads with Russia over a host of issues, including a missile defence system, the future of Kosovo and human rights.

Here are some details of the recent spats:

* MISSILE SHIELD: President George W. Bush has said his offer to cooperate with Moscow on missile defence still stands despite Russian insistence it will not change its opposition to the project.

-- Russia test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday that senior officials said could pierce any missile defence system, including the planned U.S. shield in Europe.

-- Russia has said the U.S. missile defence shield is a threat to its security and will change the strategic balance in Europe. Moscow opposes the scheme to base 10 missile interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic from 2012 to head off what Washington sees as a threat from Iran and North Korea.

* CFE PACT: Russia requested an emergency conference this week to discuss the arms control pact after accusing NATO nations of ignoring the deal negotiated in the months after the Cold War ended.

-- Last month Putin froze Moscow's commitments under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and said Russia could totally quit altogether if the Russia-NATO council failed to find a solution suitable to Moscow.

-- The CFE pact, originally signed in 1990 and updated in 1999, limits the number of battle tanks, heavy artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters deployed and stored between the Atlantic and Russia's Ural mountains.

-- But after the Soviet Union collapsed and most of its Warsaw Pact allies became NATO members, the CFE treaty -- still described by officials as a cornerstone of security in Europe -- became a largely symbolic document.

-- The Western partners have refused to ratify the CFE until Russia pulled out its bases from Georgia and Moldova, as it had promised when the treaty was reviewed in Istanbul in 1999.

* KOSOVO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke bluntly on disagreements over Kosovo on Wednesday. Serbia, backed by Russia, opposes a plan proposed by U.N. mediator Martti Ahtisaari offering the Albanian majority province independence under international supervision.

-- Western powers have backed a U.N. resolution that would grant Kosovo effective independence. Lavrov, however, said other world powers should let Serbs and Kosovo Albanians sort out the question of the future status of the province themselves.

* HUMAN RIGHTS: Another strain in relations is U.S. concern that human rights and democracy are backsliding in Russia. The United States scolded Russia last month over a police crackdown on anti-Kremlin protests, as authorities detained several hundred protesters in Moscow, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. The United States called the response heavy-handed and said it raised new questions about Moscow's commitment to democracy.

* IRAN: The United States and Russia have appeared more united on the nuclear standoff with Iran. In a joint statement, the G8 ministers said they regretted that Iran, suspected by western nations of wanting to build a nuclear bomb, was expanding its uranium enrichment activities.