Russian newspapers on Saturday welcome the Nato Prague summit's acknowledgement that Moscow no longer poses a threat to world peace but see numerous problems in the organisation's expansion.

The end of the Yalta era that divided Europe into two hostile camps Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Among these are trans-Atlantic tensions, the relative weakness of the new recruits and an increased risk of military conflict.

Government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta hails the invitation to the former Warsaw Pact members and Soviet republics as marking "the end of the Yalta era that divided Europe into two hostile camps".

However, "given the new recruits' real resources, Nato resembles more a large political club than a military alliance," it goes on.

And transatlantic tensions simmered beneath the "family portraits". "Despite all the attempts to suppress their differences on a range of crucial issues, the Americans and Europeans failed to reach agreement" - above all on Iraq.

The daily also says Nato ceases to be a purely defensive bloc. "By amending the North Atlantic Treaty, the alliance gave itself the right to wage preventive wars beyond its own borders - which is clearly a factor that increases the risk of military conflict.

The transformation of Nato from an anti-Soviet bloc into an anti-terrorist bloc Moskovskiy Komsomolets

"True, this is in the context of the fight against international terrorism, but as recent events show, there are various ways you can interpret that."

Transformation

The mass circulation Moskovskiy Komsomolets agrees that the summit "more or less completed the transformation of Nato from an anti-Soviet bloc into an antiterrorist bloc".

"On the other hand, the new Nato members which were former members of the Warsaw Pact and former Soviet republics did not conceal that Nato was for them of interest primarily as a guarantee against possible revanchist outbursts from Russia."

The mid-market daily Vremya Mn sees the summit as confirmation of Washington's ascendancy. "Winner takes all", it comments, noting that even the summit security was handled by the Americans rather than the locals.

There was never any real choice for the small fry in the post-confrontation years Vremya Mn

President George W Bush is "free of the political and strategic complexes of the Cold War", Vremya Mn goes on. "Asked to explain yet another round of invitations to the alliance, he said the new members were attracted by stability and liberty. With hand on heart, who could disagree?"

Put simply, Nato's new members are better off looking to the West than to the East, it writes, for "there was never any real choice for the small fry in the post-confrontation years".

The conservative hard-line daily Trud wonders how the new Nato members will regard Russia now.

President Bush, the paper says, was at pains to assure President Putin that Russia has nothing to fear from an expanded Nato. "We'll see just how the newly-fledged Nato members behave," the paper says.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.