Nato to discuss ties with Russia Nato to discuss ties with Russia

Georgian troops were ousted from South Ossetia in August

Foreign ministers from Nato countries are meeting in Brussels to discuss resuming co-operation with Russia.

Relations between the alliance and Moscow were frozen after Russia’s brief war with Georgia in August.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she broadly backed efforts to improve relations but that some areas remained “problematic”.

Ms Rice said she was not opposed “in principle” to improving the council’s activities, but warned against military co-operation.

“We should be very attentive to what the Russians are doing and are they living up to their obligations,” she said.

“There are certain types of activities, like military-to-military contacts, that seem to me to be problematic, when the Russian ministry is sitting in Georgian territory, in the separatist regions.”

Thousands of Russian troops are still stationed in Georgia’s rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

‘No shortcuts’

Nato is deeply divided on how to proceed, following the conflict over South Ossetia in the summer, correspondents say.

While the US and newer Nato members, from the former Warsaw Pact, are keen to draw Georgia and Ukraine closer, others like Germany and France are wary of antagonising Russia, a key energy supplier.

The war also raised doubts among many members over whether Georgia, with its disputed territories, was ready to join the bloc or remained too volatile.

Ukraine has been beset by political turbulence, with the country split on Nato membership.

No one wants to see a circumstance in which Ukraine and Georgia are shut out. Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State

Ms Rice said she believed in Nato’s “open door policy” but that there should be “no short cuts to membership of Nato”, and that both Ukraine and Georgia must first meet the organisation’s admission standards.

“No one wants to see a circumstance in which Ukraine and Georgia are shut out,” she said.

Nato does not want Russia to think it has a veto over who joins the alliance, our correspondent says.

So the ministers are expected to discuss a compromise formula of seeking to further Ukrainian and Georgian entry ambitions, but bypassing the MAPs.

Instead, other less formal measures preparing the way, such as raising the standards of the countries’ equipment, will be pursued.

Ministers are also likely to disappoint Ukraine and Georgia, which had been hoping for a roadmap to membership.

Moscow strongly opposes their ambitions to join the alliance, and some countries, like Germany, France and Italy, fear offering them a so-called membership action plan (MAP) would provoke Russia, correspondents say.

Instead, ministers are expected to encourage Tbilisi and Kiev to pursue reforms needed to join the alliance, but will stop short of offering MAPs, the BBC’s Caroline Wyatt in Brussels says.

‘Problematic’

Nato ministers are not expected to revive the Nato-Russian Council, say analysts, but could approve a resumption of lower-level dialogue with Moscow.

Tags: Europe