BRUSSELS - The United States has called an emergency meeting of NATO foreign ministers to review the alliance's worsening relations with Russia following Moscow's military intervention in Georgia.
The military alliance is expected to consider a range of upcoming activities planned with Russia _ from military exercises to ministerial meetings _ and decide case-by-case at the meeting Tuesday whether to go ahead with each activity.
Allied ministers will also discuss support for a planned international monitoring mission in the region and a package of support to help Georgia rebuild infrastructure damaged in its devastating defeat at the hands of the Russian armed forces.
Washington has denied claims by Russia's ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin that it is out to wreck the NATO-Russia Council _ a consultative panel set up in 2002 to improve relations between the former Cold War foes.
"We don't want to destroy the NATO-Russia Council, but Russia's actions have called into question the premise of the NATO-Russia relationship,'' U.S. ambassador Kurt Volker said ahead of the talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza is scheduled to hold separate talks with top European Union officials after the NATO meeting Tuesday.
How far NATO goes in curtailing relations with Moscow will depend on the situation on the ground as the doubts remain about Russia's implementation of a EU-brokered peace plan. Russia has promised to start withdrawing forces from positions in Georgia on Monday but has suggested troops could stay in South Ossetia, the breakaway region at the heart of the fighting.
The truce calls for Russian and Georgian troops to pull back to positions held before the heavy fighting erupted Aug. 7 after a Georgian drive to regain control of the pro-Moscow separatist region of South Ossetia.
The NATO ministers will discuss assistance to an enlarged international observer mission that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe may put together. The Vienna-based security group includes Russia and western nations.
Given Russian opposition to NATO's involvement in Georgia, the alliance is unlikely to consider anything more than a support role to the OSCE.
The talks will also look at the growing humanitarian mission to help tens of thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting. NATO is expected offer to send experts to help Georgia plan repairs to the its power network, airports, hospitals and other infrastructure, but the alliance is unlikely to send personnel to carry out the reconstruction.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused NATO leaders of encouraging the Russian invasion by postponing a decision in April, at a Bucharest summit, to put Georgia on a fast lane to membership in the alliance.
The western allies held off because Germany and France especially were wary of Russian opposition to the move. Russia is the EU's largest energy supplier.
In a visit Sunday to the beleaguered Georgian capital of Tbilisi, however, German Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated Western promises that Georgia will eventually join NATO.
The NATO allies are to revisit the issue of offering a "membership action plan'' to Georgia and Ukraine in December.
