Agence France-Presse,
BUDAPEST: NATO and Georgia hold their highest-level defence talks Friday with the focus on how to help rebuild the Georgian military in the wake of Russia's assault in August.
In the Hungarian capital Budapest, the NATO-Georgia Commission will hold its first meeting at ministerial level, on the date set for Russia to withdraw troops from buffer zones near two rebel Georgian regions.
The ministers will also try to end a stalemate over whether to join the fight against the Afghan opium trade, which has become a key source of funds for their Taliban-led foes.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whose country has proved Georgia's staunchest ally, has called the commission talks, to start at 0930 GMT, a “historic event” and underlined the support Tbilisi can expect to find.
“We are unwavering in our support for Georgia's sovereignty, its independence and its territorial integrity,” he told reporters, on the sidelines of NATO defence talks here.
The ministers will focus on how to support Tbilisi's efforts to rebuild and reform its military to meet requirements for NATO membership; a quest undermined by the beating its forces took at the hands of Russian troops.
The commission was formed after Russia's strike on Georgia in early August, amid a dispute over the rebel Georgian region of South Ossetia which, along with Abkhazia, Moscow has since recognised as independent.
Ahead of the meeting, Gates and Georgian Defence Minister Davit Kezerashvili discussed Georgia's military needs ahead of more in-depth talks in Washington later this month.
The announcement of those talks came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would demand, at an international meeting in Geneva on October 15, a ban on arms sales to Georgia.
“Every sovereign country has a right to have the resources to protect itself,” Gates said.
Georgian efforts to become part of NATO have infuriated Russia, which objects to the prospect of its old Cold War foe extending to its borders.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has even accused NATO of provoking the conflict with Georgia.
And on Thursday Russia's ambassador to NATO said Ukraine — another NATO hopeful — sold weapons to Georgia during the summer conflict and claimed that he had documents to prove it.
NATO has assured Tbilisi, and Kiev, that its doors are open but so far has not taken any formal decision to work towards membership for Georgia, although the allies will discuss its prospects in Brussels in December.
The 26 NATO nations are divided over whether bringing Georgia into the alliance would increase stability in a volatile region or feed insecurity by angering a more assertive and increasingly powerful Russia.
A key condition for Georgia entering the fold lies in the resolution of the frozen conflicts in its rebel regions — now simmering hot — and improving its democratic credentials.
Russia's actions since August have greatly complicated matters.
On Wednesday, Lavrov said “the ideal solution to the problem of ensuring security would be an embargo on arms deliveries to the current Georgian regime, and as an immediate step… there must be an international ban on sales of offensive weaponry to Georgia.”
The talks in Geneva, part of a deal signed last month by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, are aimed at ensuring security and stability in South Ossetia and rebel Abkhazia.
Gates cautiously welcomed Russia's troop withdrawal from the buffer zones but he blasted Moscow's actions in Georgia since early August.
“We have sought a constructive relationship with Russia but unfortunately their behaviour has undermined security in the region and raised real concerns about their intentions,” he said.
