NATO members were divided last night as the US president, George Bush, made a bold bid to expand the military alliance to include the former Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine.
The attempt to get the strategically important Black Sea states included as full Nato members met with immediate opposition as France and Germany indicated they would block the expansion plan to prevent a crisis with Russia.
Ukraine and Georgia ho
pe the three-day Nato summit that opened last night in Romania will grant them a "membership action plan" that would prepare them to join the alliance over the next five-to-ten years.
Before the summit Mr Bush lobbied hard for the two former Soviet republics, which lie on Russia's south-western border across key east-west oil and gas routes.
"We must make clear that Nato welcomes the aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine for membership in Nato and offers them a clear path forward toward that goal," Mr Bush said in a speech to security experts.
"Nato membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it and are ready to share in the responsibilities," he said.
But arriving in Bucharest last night, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was unequivocal: "We are convinced that it is too early to grant both states the status," she said.
Russia strongly opposes Nato's eastward creep, and has warned it would provoke a new East-West crisis. "What's happening with this artificial – and completely unnecessary – expansion of Nato ... will not be unanswered, I assure you," Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister told his country's parliament.
Britain, Canada, and Nato's new members from eastern Europe have joined the US in backing Ukraine and Georgia.
"The Ukrainian people naturally yearn for greater freedom, democracy and prosperity. Canada will do everything in its power to help Ukraine realise these aspirations, including backing its bid for Nato membership," said prime minister Stephen Harper.
Germany and France are wary about inflaming relations with Russia, which are already strained over Kosovo's independence and US plans to base anti-missile defences in Poland and the Czech Republic.
They also point to widespread public opposition in Ukraine to membership and the conflicts between the Georgian government and pro-Russian separatist movements.
Diplomats said they expected the summit would produce a compromise.
Mr Bush used his speech to the Bucharest security conference on Wednesday to urge allies to step up their efforts in Afghanistan, saying defeating the Taleban and al-Qaeda would boost security in Europe. He noted that Osama bin Laden had renewed threats to strike in Europe.
"We need to take the words of the enemy seriously," Mr Bush said. "The terrorist threat is real, it is deadly, and defeating this enemy must be the top priority of the Nato alliance."
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president is expected to tell the summit today that he will send hundreds of extra troops in addition to the 1,400 already serving with Nato's 47,000-strong force in Afghanistan.
France had been expected to announce 1,000 extra troops, but diplomats in Paris said Mr Sarkozy may hold back on the exact figure while talks continue among Nato commanders.
Significantly, the French troops are expected to be sent to the front line of the fight against the Taleban and al-Qaeda in eastern or southern Afghanistan. That could ease a two-year rift between alliance nations such as Britain, Canada and the US, which have combat troops in the most dangerous zones, and those who keep their forces in the more stable north and west.
Nato military officials said the French troops were expected to be based in the eastern provinces of Logar and Wardak, freeing US troops to help Canadians in southern Kandahar. Canada has said it will pull out unless it gets 1,000 reinforcements.
The new French troops and the imminent arrival of 3,200 extra US Marines would give added weight to a "vision statement" the leaders are scheduled to adopt Thursday to confirm Nato's long-term commitment to Afghanistan and attempt to boost flagging public support for the mission in the face of growing Taleban violence.
But leading European allies, including Germany, Italy, Turkey and Spain, are still refusing to send combat troops to the Afghan front lines because of the unpopularity of the war at home.
The full article contains 736 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
