BRUSSELS - NATO was set to send a strong signal of support for Georgia, as the United States urged allies Tuesday to boost military ties with the former Soviet republic on Russia’s southern border.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was backing the setting up of a permanent NATO- Georgia Commission to solidify ties between the Western alliance and Georgia. Diplomats said Washington also supports increasing training for the Georgian military.
At the same time, NATO foreign ministers were discussing possibly scaling back high-level meetings and military cooperation with Russia if it does not abandon crucial positions across Georgia.
NATO is awaiting Russia’s promised military pullout after a brief war with the ex-Soviet republic — a conflict that has exacerbated tensions between Moscow and the West.
But as the NATO meeting began on Tuesday, Russia’s military held onto crucial positions across Georgia.
NATO was expected to restate its commitment to eventually offer alliance membership to Georgia — despite Russia’s fierce opposition.
“We said (Georgia) would eventually become a member of NATO alongside Ukraine, and that’s certainly the position that we will be advocating today,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.
Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Russia had agreed to allow 20 more international military monitors in and around Georgia’s disputed region of South Ossetia.
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, who currently holds the OSCE chairmanship, said the plan calls for the observers to be sent immediately to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Georgia still must approve the plan.
The organization already has nine observers based in South Ossetia, as part of its 200-member mission in Georgia. But it wants
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