NATO ministers debate enlargement

NATO enlargement and relations with Russia are top of the agenda at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels today. The US is urging the ministers to make sure that Ukraine and Georgia are not totally shut out when it comes to the possibility of joining the alliance. European countries earlier derailed a bid by President Bush to put the two countries on the track to membership.

There is also the question of relations between NATO and Moscow, damaged by the war between Georgia and Russia. Germany and other allies have called for renewed contact with Moscow through the NATO-Russia Council, which was suspended after the conflict in Georgia broke out. The EU is also looking at restarting talks with Moscow on a pact covering trade and other relations.

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tags: NATO, Russia