Nato began a farewell summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin today which both sides hoped would thaw chilly relations and set the stage for cooperation with the next Kremlin leader.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President George W. Bush attend the opening session of the Nato summit in Bucharest yesterday
Mr Putin sat down with US President George W. Bush and the alliance's 25 other leaders for a two-hour meeting, one day after Nato leaders meeting in Bucharest promised Ukraine and Georgia they would one day join the Western defence pact.
That pledge could irk Mr Putin but Russian officials chose to underline the importance of Nato's refusal yesterday to put the two former Soviet republics on an immediate path to membership in the face of fierce Russian opposition.
"We will take stock of our commonalities. But also seek ways to intensify the process of finding common denominators on issues on which we don't agree," Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in brief remarks opening the meeting.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko sought earlier today to reassure Russia his country's ambitions were not directed against its former Soviet master. "Our state has the full right to choose our own way of development, protect our security and our interests. Our interests are not destined (to be) against any other country," Mr Yushchenko told an earlier session.
Mr De Hoop Scheffer said a statement pledging to welcome Ukraine into Nato was an unambiguous commitment that did not leave "a shimmer of a doubt" although Kiev would still have to meet the membership criteria.
Mr Yushchenko said he was sure a review in December would grant Ukraine a Membership Action Plan (MAP) - a formal gateway to eventual membership. That was denied his country in Bucharest after Germany, France and others resisted.