US President George W Bush has repeated his call for Nato to expand eastwards. Speaking in Romania ahead of Nato’s summit in Bucharest, he said the former Soviet states of Ukraine and Georgia should be offered paths to membership.

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said on April 2 that the government would consider the Russian State Duma’s resolution on the recognition of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with the connection to the situation in Kosovo.

Former Chairman of the NATO Military Commitee Harald Kujat is against the admission of Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. According to German general, membership of Ukraine and Georgia in the alliance conflicts with the interests of NATO and the candidates themselves.