Soaring tensions between the United States and Russia have brought the world to a “dangerous point,” Mikhail Gorbachev warned on Monday.

The former Soviet leader’s intervention came amid a collapse in East-West relations over the war in Syria that has seen the Kremlin openly threaten to shoot down Western aircraft, drawing comparisons with the worst crises of the Cold War.

"I think the world has reached a dangerous point," Mr Gorbachev, 85, told state news agency RIA Novosti.