MOSCOW – Vice President Cheney accused Russia yesterday of bullying its neighbors and backsliding on democracy in the most scathing attack on the Kremlin by a senior American official since the end of the Cold War.

His comments demonstrated how far relations between the two countries have soured since President Bush and President Putin embraced at their first meeting in 2001.

“In Russia today, opponents of reform are seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade,” Mr. Cheney said in a speech to Baltic and Black Sea leaders in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. “The government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of her people.”

He went on to accuse Russia of using its vast energy supplies as “tools of intimidation or blackmail” and of under mining the territorial integrity of its neighbors.

“Actions by the Russian government have been counterproductive and could begin to affect relations with other countries,” he warned.

One Western diplomat described it as the most abrasive speech directed at Russia since President Reagan visited the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 and called on his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev, to “tear down this wall.”

Mr. Cheney has spearheaded a review of American policy toward the Kremlin in recent months as the White House has become increasingly concerned about Russia’s direction under Mr. Putin.

His speech provoked fury in the Kremlin, where a spokesman described the remarks as “completely incomprehensible.”

A leading Kremlin adviser predicted a “tough reaction” from the Putin administration. “In Moscow this statement is seen as disgusting and will be unanimously condemned by both the ruling and political elites,” Gleb Pavlovsky said.

“Moscow has always suspected that the USA needs an enemy to maintain its identity. Now we have proof of it.”

Since he became president in 2000, Mr. Putin has consolidated his hold on power, all but abolishing political parties, ending the independence of much of the press, suspending elections for regional governors, and imposing tight controls on advocacy groups.

He has also provoked Washington by befriending many of the countries America likes least, from Belarus and Uzbekistan to Burma and Iran.