WASHINGTON (AFP)--Defense Secretary Robert Gates travels to Estonia Tuesday to show U.S. support for the Baltics and for former Soviet republics with aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization amid heightened tensions with Russia, Pentagon officials said.
NATO allies have been divided over how to deal with Moscow since August when Russian tanks rolled into Georgia, which like fellow former Soviet republic Ukraine had been promised eventual NATO membership.
But Gates planned to make clear at an informal meeting of allied defense ministers in Tallinn that Washington backs Ukraine and Georgia's bids to join NATO and is sympathetic to concerns raised by the Baltics and Poland over Russia's aggressive behavior, a spokesman said.
"I'm not so sure this is a meeting the secretary would have attended had the Russians chosen not to invade Georgia," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.
"But in the aftermath of that the secretary wanted to send a very strong signal of his support for the Ukraine and the Baltic states and other NATO allies from Eastern Europe that the United States stands behind them," he told reporters.
Gates is scheduled to meet with Baltic defense ministers in Tallinn on Wednesday and attend an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers with their Ukrainian counterpart Thursday to discuss Kiev's bid to join the alliance.
His trip comes just a week after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to deploy missiles in the western enclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithuania, to counter U.S. missile defenses in central Europe.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would abandon the missile deployments if Washington scrapped its plans to install interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in Czech Republic.
The Russian moves appeared aimed at widening divisions within NATO while at the same time testing the reaction of the incoming administration of president-elect Barack Obama.
Lavrov's statement came a day after E.U. foreign ministers agreed to resume talks with Moscow on a strategic pact, which have been frozen since the invasion of Georgia.
"We are not looking to punish the Russians, but it has caused us to re-evaluate the relationship. We are re-evaluating," a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
It was unclear how much weight Gates' views would have at the Tallinn meeting. Gates represents a lame duck U.S. administration, but Obama's advisers haven't ruled out his staying on in the new administration.
Officials said his meeting with the Baltic defense ministers on Wednesday was an opportunity to hear their concerns about Russia and additional steps they believe NATO should take.
The Baltics have argued for an extension of NATO's air policing role, a defense plan for the Baltic region and additional exercises.
NATO's military command is looking at contingency planning options and a threat assessment for the Baltics, U.S. defense officials said.
But they acknowledged that the alliance has no formal defense plan to protect the region against a Russian threat nor has it agreed to any additional steps, U.S. defense officials said.
Thursday's session will review Ukraine's progress in making military reforms that are required for it to be formally put on a path to NATO membership, a process called the Membership Action Plan, the officials said.
The Bush administration hopes that NATO foreign ministers will agree to give Ukraine a Membership Action Plan at their next meeting in Brussels, but U.S. officials were doubtful that the necessary consensus could be achieved.
A political crisis in the Ukraine, meanwhile, has emerged as another obstacle to NATO membership. President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved parliament Oct. 8 and it remains unclear when new elections will be held.
"It is incumbent upon the Ukrainian leaders to make a case to their people as to the value of becoming a member of this alliance," said a second senior defense official.
"And if the Russian invasion of Georgia didn't make it abundantly clear as to why one would wish to become a member of the alliance, I don't know what will," the official said.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 11, 2008 17:59 ET (22:59 GMT)

Publié le 11 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones