NATO will not offer Georgia membership step, avoiding Russia clash

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - NATO will stop short of approving a formal step to membership for Georgia at its summit in September, officials said on Wednesday, dodging a possible confrontation with Moscow over the alliance's expansion to Russia's neighbours.

NATO members agreed in principle to draw up a "substantive package" of cooperation with Georgia that would help it move closer to NATO, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters at a meeting of alliance foreign ministers.

But that falls short of an invitation to join NATO's Membership Action Plan (MAP) - a formal step towards membership - that Georgia, which fought a brief war with Russia in 2008, had hoped for.

Putting Georgia on a path to NATO membership would have angered Russia, which is deeply hostile to the Western military alliance advancing into former Soviet republics, and some allies feared it could provoke Russian retaliation.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/25/uk-nato-enlargement-idUKKBN0F01G620140625