NATO EXPANSION EAST SUSPENDED
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2008 13:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ukraine and Georgia intensified their efforts on
Wednesday to advance towards joining the NATO alliance in the face
of Russian opposition.
Both countries are seeking invitations to so-called membership action
plans – the final stage to prepare potential members for joining the
alliance – at a summit meeting of the 26-member alliance in Bucharest
next week.
Their applications are strongly supported by the US, which wants
agreement to be part of President George W. Bush’s legacy. A majority
of other allies, largely from NATO’s newer members in eastern and
central Europe, also backs the applications. But there is continuing
opposition, mainly from Western Europe, with Germany not wishing to
provoke Russia, and other governments, such as France, hesitant.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president-elect, warned this week that the
two countries’ moves towards NATO were "extremely troublesome for
the existing structure of European security".
The Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko, on Wednesday dismissed
such claims as "myths", adding: "These are attempts to leave Ukraine
in a position in which it would be unable to protect its security
against threats. This is not acceptable. We are a sovereign nation."
Mr Yushchenko suggested that failure by Kiev to join poses a risk
to Ukrainian "sovereignty, independence", and collective security
in Europe.
Whereas most such invitations to the alliance have in the past been
settled in advance of summits, diplomats said they expect the Ukraine
and Georgia discussions to continue until the last moment.
Georgian officials pressed their case at a meeting on Wednesday at
NATO headquarters in Brussels. After the meeting, David Bakradze,
Georgia’s Foreign Minister, said there was agreement that Georgia’s
performance – including its contributions to NATO’s missions in
Afghanistan and other international coalitions, such as that in Iraq –
merited a membership action plan.
Georgia on Wednesday offered to contribute troops and logistics help
to NATO’s counter-terrorism operation in the Mediterranean.
But Mr Bakradze said in a telephone interview that political questions
could still delay the move. He declined to estimate the chances of an
invitation next week. Georgia’s move to the membership action plan was
"a question of when rather than if", he said, adding that a majority
of allies believed the "when" should be settled in Bucharest.
Opponents to Georgia’s membership have also argued it should not move
ahead because of the so-called frozen conflicts in Georgia’s breakaway
regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But Mr Bakradze argued that
the issue before allies was not whether Georgia would join NATO but
whether it would take a significant step towards it.
Denying that Georgia would "hand an indirect veto to third countries",
he said, in an apparent reference to Russia, The Financial Times
reports.
–Boundary_(ID_YmFoj8j91mr/S5vbYzO pMA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
