Rice Warns Nato Against Closer Ties With Moscow ? for Now

Nato should beware of cooperating too closely with Russia after the invasion of Georgia last summer, the outgoing US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, warned today.

Speaking in London before attending a meeting of the military alliance in Brussels, she signalled that the US was willing to improve strained diplomatic relations with Moscow. "In principle, we don't have any problem [with closer ties]," Rice said.

However, the timing of renewed cooperation should be subject to tests, such as whether Russia was meeting its ceasefire commitments or "acting on its quite ill-tempered decision" to recognize two breakaway Georgian provinces as independent. "Those are ... the touchstones of when it makes sense," Rice said.

Two days of talks at Nato are expected to focus on Georgia's and Ukraine's hopes of joining the alliance. France and Germany fear that opening pre-membership negotiations with the two states would antagonize Russia.

The US government recently backed away from its call for Ukraine and Georgia to be prepared for Nato membership. It has called, however, for such "post-Soviet" nations' to modernize their armed forces and develop stronger democratic institutions.

Rice hinted that the US was considering seeking to improve relations with Moscow. "I think you would want to be very careful, for instance, about doing things that look military-to-military, because the Russian military is still sitting in the states," she said, referring to the standoff in the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The US-backed government in Georgia claims the territories as integral parts of the nation.

"This [war] turned out badly for Russia, very badly," Rice said. Moscow had failed to bring down the Georgian government, its economy or international support for it, Rice said. "If they did anything, they managed to increase international support for Georgia, not decrease it."

Rice is cutting short her attendance at the Nato session to travel to India, where she will hold talks about the Mumbai atrocities.

Some Nato states have opposed allowing Georgia and Ukraine to join the organization's Membership Action Plan (MAP). Despite internal divisions, the US is still hoping to find a new way for Georgia and the Ukraine to join the alliance.