Georgia says NATO "no" would fuel conflicts

By David Brunnstrom

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Failure by NATO to offer Georgia a membership plan at a summit next week would be seen by Russia as a victory and fuel separatist conflicts in Georgia, the foreign minister of the Caucasus state said on Wednesday.

David Bakradze said after talks at NATO that some European capitals remained sceptical about offering it and fellow ex-Soviet republic Ukraine a Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the April 2-4 summit, but urged them to be firm with Moscow.

Bakradze said a "no" to Georgia would show Moscow it could exercise an indirect veto over which countries could join NATO and show the success of its encouragement of so-called frozen conflicts in two breakaway Georgian regions backed by Russia.

"A no in Bucharest will have very, very threatening and negative implications for conflict resolution," he told reporters before the meetings.

"It will be very clearly seen that this policy of creating problems works ... and then we will have zero chances to resolve those conflicts peacefully and it will encourage those in Moscow who think it is better to maintain those conflicts."

Speaking after he met envoys of the 26 NATO nations, Bakradze said some of them still had doubts about granting Georgia a MAP in Bucharest but said he had been encouraged.

"I think it went very well ... there is no discussion about the question of whether (a MAP should be offered)," he said.

U.S. President George W. Bush said this month he would urge NATO allies to begin the membership process for Georgia at the summit, but he faces west European resistance in the face of strong Russian opposition.