NATO is set to formalize its diplomatic
response to August's Russian-Georgian war by inaugurating a new NATO-Georgia
Commission in Tbilisi despite vocal Russian criticism, alliance officials
confirmed Thursday, dpa
reported.
On Monday NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and diplomats from the
alliance's 26 member states are to sign an agreement with Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili bringing the new body into being, NATO spokesman James
Appathurai said.
The commission is then to hold its first meeting to discuss how NATO as an
organization can best help Georgia move closer to the alliance - both by
improving political cooperation and by advising Georgia on how to rebuild and
modernize its battered army.
The move, which NATO foreign ministers approved at an August 19 emergency
meeting as a response to the Georgian-Russian war, is likely to receive a
heated response from Moscow.
The Kremlin has long opposed any suggestion of Georgia joining NATO, saying it
would see any such move as a threat to its security. The launch of the
commission is hardly likely to calm those concerns.
And since the war, Russian officials have regularly accused Saakashvili of
crimes against humanity and genocide, with Russia's firebrand ambassador to
NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, telling journalists that the alliance should only
contemplate offering Saakashvili membership after it has brought in Hitler
and Saddam Hussein.
But NATO officials insist the decision to launch the commission in Tbilisi with Saakashvili is not meant to antagonize Russia.
"There is a clear consensus among the allies that we don't want a total
rupture with Russia ... We believe the relationship is an essential strategic
bridge across Europe and we will not take steps to undermine
it," Appathurai said.
Nonetheless, "the people of Georgia have chosen their president and that
is the president with whom NATO allies will work. It's very important to NATO
that the Georgian people have the right and freedom to make their own
choices," he said.