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Moscow Warns NATO Not to 'Play With Fire'

But US backs bids by Georgia and Ukraine to join alliance

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 28, 2008 6:59 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Moscow urged NATO today not to absorb ex-Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine, Reuters reports. "It's a dangerous game to play with fire," said Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov, who warned that Russia's military ties with NATO were at stake. His remarks come days before a NATO summit in Bucharest, where Vladimir Putin will attend—and Georgia and Ukraine will seek roadmaps into the alliance.

Washington backs both bids, but Germany and France are among EU members that balk at the timing. They say Georgia is destabilized by two breakaway regions, both of which Moscow supports. Lavrov concurred: "If Georgia intends to gain NATO support in order to solve these two conflicts by means of force, it's a dangerous game." But Georgia contends that bombings in South Ossetia aim only to ruin the nation's NATO bid.

NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, left, and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, left, and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.   (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)
Air force officers from NATO members, including the United States and Germany, and aspiring members, including Georgia and Ukraine, seen during an opening ceremony of 20-days of training.
Air force officers from NATO members, including the United States and Germany, and aspiring members, including Georgia and Ukraine, seen during an opening ceremony of 20-days of training.   (AP Photo/ Shakh Aivazov)
Ethnic Ossetians and Georgians hold a portrait, left, they claim to depict the leader of Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity.
Ethnic Ossetians and Georgians hold a portrait, left, they claim to depict the leader of Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity.   (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)
Investigators work at a bus burnt after an explosion near a police post on the administrative border of North Ossetia, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2007.
Investigators work at a bus burnt after an explosion near a police post on the administrative border of North Ossetia, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2007.   (AP Photo)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that efforts by Georgia's pro-Western government to join NATO have added tension.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that efforts by Georgia's pro-Western government to join NATO have added tension.   (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
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Breakaway region blames Georgia for bombing
Associated Press

In depth on the NATO divide
Washington Times

 
Russia • NATO • European Union • Vladimir Putin • Georgia • Ukraine • Bucharest

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