Nato steps back from giving Georgia full membership of alliance

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/25/nato-refuse-georgia-membership-russia

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Georgia's hopes of achieving full membership of Nato were set back on Wednesday as the alliance vowed to stop short of approval, avoiding possible confrontation with Moscow over an expansion to Russia's neighbours.

Officials said Nato's summit in September would not sanction the formal step to membership. But Nato members agreed in principle to draw up a "substantive package" of cooperation with Georgia that would help it move closer to the alliance, said its secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008 and some Nato members fear that starting the formal process for full membership could provoke Russian retaliation. Welcoming Georgia into the alliance would mean Nato could be obliged to go to its defence in the event of another war with Russia.

Russia, which has said that its annexation of Crimea in March was influenced by Nato's expansion into eastern Europe, has made no secret of its opposition to Georgia joining the alliance.

The question of whether Georgia should be invited to join the programme has been controversial since the debate split the alliance during the summit in Bucharest in 2008.

At that time Nato members, led by France and Germany, rebuffed US demands that Georgia and Ukraine be allowed into the membership action plan (a programme of advice, assistance and support tailored to countries wishing to join the alliance) while promising the countries would be able to join one day.

Months after the Bucharest summit Russia fought a five-day war with Georgia and later recognised two breakaway provinces as independent nations. Ukraine later dropped its goal of Nato membership.

Although Rasmussen insisted on Wednesday that Nato's door remained open to new members and that no other country had a veto over enlargement, Nato diplomats said the standoff over Ukraine did influence the debate.

Some allies, particularly in the Baltics and eastern Europe, said that Nato should send a strong message to Moscow by giving Georgia a formal membership action plan.

Montenegro's hopes of receiving an invitation to join the alliance at the summit in September, being held in Newport, Wales, were dashed too, with Nato delaying a decision on whether to admit the small Balkan country until next year.

The Georgian foreign minister, Maia Panjikidze, said she was not disappointed about the lack of an invitation. "Georgia will get a very concrete package and it will help Georgia's further integration into Nato and will bring Georgia closer to … membership," she told Reuters in Brussels.