BRUSSELS, Dec 2: Nato moved closer on Tuesday to resuming high-level talks with Russia and also giving new impetus to reforms in Georgia and Ukraine, as the former Soviet states strive to join the military alliance.

Alliance foreign ministers, meeting almost four months after Russia’s brief war with Georgia, appeared close to an agreement to resume ambassadorial level meetings of the so-called Nato-Russia Council, diplomats said.

The talks were suspended in September, after the August conflict between Russia and Georgia over breakaway South Ossetia, which Moscow has now recognised as independent along with another separatist region, Abkhazia.

Differences over ties with Russia and whether to fast-track Nato membership for Georgia and Ukraine have pitted the United States — a major Tbilisi backer — against a bloc of Europeans led by France and Germany.

The Europeans are keen to smooth ties with Russia, a major energy supplier to Europe, and fear that offering the two hopefuls so-called membership action plan (MAP) status would add to already high tensions over Kosovo’s independence and US missile defence plans in eastern Europe.

“I fail to see that we gain anything by limiting channels of communication” with Russia, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told reporters at Nato headquarters in Brussels. “I don’t think this is the right approach.” Even nations siding with US President George Bush’s administration, whose term ends on Jan 20, conceded that it was time to move forward ties with Russia, despite concerns Moscow was not fully respecting the Georgia ceasefire.

“I think the time has come to resume negotiations for the first time at a formal level,” said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

“I think it’s very important at the level of working groups and ambassadors in order to pave the way” for a meeting at ministerial level next year “and then the summit in April to formally resume the Nato-Russia Council.” The path for Georgia and Ukraine toward Nato membership remains problematic.

At issue is how to side-step MAP — the next common formal step for them to join Nato — to ensure that the two countries continue to carry out sorely needed reforms.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was taking part in her last Nato meeting, believes that the Nato-Georgia Commission and Nato-Ukraine Commission are the best forums.

MAP has been the penultimate membership port of call for candidates since 1999, but it is not a condition for accession, and Washington and its allies believe reform itself is more important than the body under which it happens.

Georgia and Ukraine “want practical help. They know that the immediate issue is actually not a decision today on membership,” said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.—AFP