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Bush to work for Ukraine and Georgia NATO membership

01 April 2008 15:28 (UTC +04:00)

George W. Bush had talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, on the eve of a NATO summit in Bucharest.
Washington is keen for both Ukraine and Georgia to begin the process of joining the alliance with the so-called Membership Action Plan, or MAP.
But there is strong opposition in Ukraine, among some of Bush’s European allies, and particularly in Moscow. Russia fears the move is linked to the Pentagon’s plans for anti-missile bases in Eastern Europe. "I strongly believe that Ukraine and Georgia should be given MAP and there’s no tradeoff", he told reporters.
Yushchenko expressed his hope that the coming summit would advance Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO. But he acknowledged the country was divided on the issue. There was evidence of that in protests on the streets of Kiev ahead of Bush’s arrival.
For many Ukrainians, joining the alliance is not a priority - only 30 percent of respondents to surveys in the ex-Soviet state support it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also attending the Bucharest conference as a guest. He is expected to say Russia wants to work with the West but stress his opposition to Ukrainian and Georgian NATO membership.