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BRUSSELS: NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Tuesday are set to back Georgia's territorial integrity and send a strong message to Russia over its military action there, officials said.
The meeting of the 26 NATO foreign ministers was called by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who arrived in the Belgian capital late Monday with a firm line for Moscow.
"We are going to send the message that we are not going to allow Russia to draw a new line at those states that are not yet integrated into the transatlantic structures like Georgia and Ukraine," she said.
"We are determined to deny them their strategic objective."
Washington, which has stressed that it cannot be "business as usual" with Russia following its action in Georgia, wants a complete review of NATO ties with Moscow, including dialogue on counter-terrorism and missile defence.
Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili will hold bilateral talks with her NATO counterparts on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Brussels meeting.
"It's a ministerial meeting on the Georgian crisis so it is normal that she is there," a spokeswoman for Georgia's NATO mission said, adding that Tkeshelashvili had a full day of meetings planned including with Rice and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
Georgia's foreign ministry on Monday accused Russia of violating the ceasefire agreement by continuing military operations and failing to withdraw troops.
Russia's envoy to NATO warned Monday that "the quality of cooperation" between Moscow and the Alliance would suffer if the NATO foreign ministers fail to reach a "responsible decision".
"We don't want to hear that (Mikheil) Saakashvili is a saint," he added, comparing the Georgian president's actions in the breakaway province of South Ossetia to the worst excesses of Hitler and Stalin.
Despite one senior US official's assurance that "I think you'll see a NATO more united than you might expect," other diplomatic sources said the subject of Russia's role in Georgia had split NATO members.
Britain, Canada, the United States and most eastern European member states are in one camp seeking a tough stance on Russia's actions, the sources said.
Meanwhile most of western Europe, led by France and Germany and backed by Hungary, Slovenia and others, were more cautious of further hurting ties with Moscow.
NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer spoke with several Alliance foreign ministers Monday, seeking to forge consensus on the Georgia-Russia conflict ahead of the Brussels meeting, an Alliance spokeswoman said.
Scheffer is expecting the Allies to stress their firm support for Georgia's territorial integrity, she told AFP.
"The foreign ministers will also probably send a message of solidarity and will agree on a package of measures."
These would likely include agreement to send a team of civil emergency planning experts to help Georgia assess the damage done to its infrastructure during the Russian military action which began over a week ago, including energy supplies and the public health system.
The ministers could also agree to help assess the damage to Georgia's military facilities, in particular reports that its radar system was badly damaged.
The NATO foreign ministers will back the ceasefire agreement between Georgia and Russia and may stress the need to fully implement the agreement "including the international mechanism to monitor respect of the engagements taken by both sides," Alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.
The NATO foreign ministers are also set to stress their backing for the agreement reached by Alliance leaders in Bucharest in April that Georgia will one day be offered membership, without setting any dates.
- AFP/yb
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