German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier yesterday voiced alarm over the growing "alienation" between Russia and the West, stressing the need for dialogue as post-Cold War tensions peak.

Speaking to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Steinmeier said last month's poisoning of a former Russian spy in England, which Britain and its allies blame on Moscow, was "a very serious incident".

"But we should be at least as worried about the galloping alienation between Russia and the West, the consequences of which stretch far beyond this case," the former foreign minister said.

Moscow vehemently denies involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, which triggered a wave of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between Russia and Western countries.