US Urges Nato to Punish Russia for Operations in Georgia

Washington will urge its European allies today to introduce sanctions against Russia by freezing the six-year-old Nato-Russia council.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, arrived in Brussels last night for an emergency meeting of Nato foreign ministers at which the Americans are demanding that the alliance punishes Moscow for its operations in Georgia.

Rice warned that Nato would not allow Moscow to win a strategic victory from its invasion of Georgia, or to reassert the Kremlin's influence by force. "We have to deny Russian strategic objectives, which are clearly to undermine Georgia's democracy, to use its military capability to damage ... and to weaken the Georgian state," she said.

"We are not going to allow Russia to draw a new line at those states that are not yet integrated into the transatlantic structures," she said, referring to Georgia and Ukraine, which aspire to join Nato and the European Union.

The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, echoed Rice in an article in the Times, in which he said Nato needed to confirm its commitment to membership for Ukraine and Georgia made at a summit in April.

The alliance, he went on, needed to follow up that commitment with serious cooperation — militarily and politically — with the two countries "as part of a structured route to eventual membership".

As for Russia, Miliband said he favored "hard-headed engagement" by using the benefits the Kremlin needs from the international system to push it into responsible behavior. However, the foreign secretary said he did not support Russia's exclusion from the G8 group of leading industrialized countries as that would encourage a "Russian sense of victimhood".

The Nato-Russia council brings 27 governments together to discuss international security, counter-terrorism, and other issues. One senior US official said: "We're not seeking an adversarial relationship, but we can't go on as normal. At a minimum, we're looking at the high-level meetings and whether that can go on."

While any such move is likely to attract criticism that the US is taking token diplomatic action which is unlikely to change Russia's attitude to the Caucasus conflict, Rice may also run into resistance among European allies who would be reluctant to place any sanctions on the Russians.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned on Sunday against "knee-jerk reactions" on Russia. "Talks in the Nato-Russia council are essential," he said. "We need open lines of communication."

Russia has been seeking a session of the council since the conflict flared up 10 days ago, but the Americans have blocked it. The US ambassador to Nato, Kurt Volker, has not met his Russian counterpart in Brussels, Dmitry Rogozin.

Today's meeting is the first time the US and European governments have gathered to discuss how to respond to what many see as Russia's challenge to the post-cold war order in Europe. But with Europe split over how to react, the attitude at Nato headquarters appears to be focused on minimum intervention to prevent a transatlantic rift, and for fear of jeopardizing the ceasefire in Georgia and the chances of a full Russian retreat.

A number of further disputes are likely because of Russian opposition to an international ceasefire-monitoring and peacekeeping role in Georgia.

The Finnish foreign minister, Alexander Stubb, is to brief Nato today on plans to send hundreds of European truce observers to Georgia. Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, which currently holds the EU presidency, is also threatening to call an emergency summit of EU leaders if Russia fails to deliver on its promised withdrawal from Georgia.

Rice is also due in Warsaw today for the formal signing ceremony between the US and Poland on missile defence, an act that will further inflame east-west hostility.

Russia is bitterly opposed to the plan to station 10 US interceptor rockets at missile silos in Poland and a radar station in the neighboring Czech Republic as part of the Pentagon's missile shield project. Last week the Russian general staff warned Poland it could be vulnerable to a Russian nuclear strike.