NATO intensifies talks with Montenegro, Bosnia not discussed

Foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at yesterday's meeting in Brussels agreed to offer a "significant package" to Georgia to help it move closer to NATO, said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, writes worldstreetjournal.com, reports Patria.

Rasmussen did not say what kind of package it is, but this is certainly an introduction to full membership in NATO. He also noted that no third country has the right of veto over NATO expansion. Moscow still strongly opposes NATO expansion into countries that emerged from the collapse of the USSR, such as Georgia.

Another conclusion of the meeting was that the Alliance will intensify and focus talks with Montenegro and will assess whether to invite it to become a full member by the end of 2015, reports Patria.

On the other hand, Rasmussen did not mention the other two candidate countries for NATO expansion, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia.

The ministers' talks continued today, including a review of relations with Russia, about which Rasmussen said it "shows no signs of respecting its international obligations."

Ministers will also discuss aid for Ukraine and Afghanistan. British Foreign Secretary William Hague praised the Ukrainian peace plan proposed by President Petro Poroshenko. He said that Russia welcomed the plan, but "we have not seen action to support the cessation of the flow of weapons across the border into Ukraine and the cessation of support for illegal armed groups," Hague said. Without that, he said, further European Union sanctions against Russia could become stronger.

At today's meeting, Rasmussen said that "Russian aggression against Ukraine has fundamentally changed the security aspect of Europe, and thus challenges NATO's vision of a free Europe and peace."

Ministers are also preparing for the alliance leaders' summit to be held in September in Wales, reports Patria.