Rice: Russian Veto on NATO Expansion Impossible

Russia cannot be allowed to veto NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on September 28.

“We will not permit Russia to veto the future of NATO, neither the countries offered membership nor their decision to accept it,” Reuters quoted Rice as saying.

“We and our European allies will give our help to Georgia … The United States and Europe strongly support the independence and the territorial integrity of Russia’s neighbors,” she said.

NATO rejected Georgia’s bid for a Membership Action Plan (MAP) at its April summit in Bucharest, but gave temporizing assurance that it would become a member of the alliance in the future.

Rice also warned that the August war and Russia’s unilateral recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia could derail its efforts to join the World Trade Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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