NATO says Ukraine, Georgia must work hard to join alliance

(RIA Novosti) - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer reiterated on Friday that the alliance would keep its doors open to Georgia and Ukraine, but both countries still had much work ahead of them.

The two former Soviet republics have long sought membership in NATO, but the alliance refused at its April summit to let Georgia and Ukraine into Membership Action Plan (MAP), a key step for membership in the 26-nation bloc.

Scheffer said after NATO defense ministers' talks in Poland on Friday that the alliance would help speed up reforms needed for the countries' eventual membership but made clear that membership was still a long way off.

At the meeting, the ministers reaffirmed their condemnation of Russian military intervention in Georgia following the attack on South Ossetia by Georgian forces last August, and reiterated their concern over Russia's plans to build military bases in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, former Georgian regions which Russia has recognized as independent states.

Relations between Russia and NATO last year reached their lowest point since the Cold War after the brief military conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi.

In response to NATO's decision to halt cooperation, Russia put on hold a number of programs, including the Partnership for Peace program, a high-ranking visit to Moscow, some joint naval training and NATO visits to Russian ports.

However, NATO foreign ministers agreed in early December at a meeting in Brussels to gradually restore contacts with Moscow.