Members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York, May 23, 2012.  REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

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Shreen Mohammad sits with other recruits during a military exercise at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 28, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 28, 2012.   REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 18 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE 'AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT'

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No link between NATO bids and missile defense: Bush

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KIEV | Tue Apr 1, 2008 1:13pm EDT

KIEV (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Tuesday there was no link between bids by ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia to begin the process of joining NATO and plans to deploy a U.S. missile defense system in Europe.

"That is a misperception," Bush said after talks in Kiev. "I strongly believe that Ukraine and Georgia should be given MAP (Membership Action Plans) and there's no tradeoffs. Period."

Bush said he had made that clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia opposes the bid by both ex-Soviet states to seek long-term NATO membership and has also criticized U.S. plans to deploy interceptor rockets and a radar in Poland and the Czech Republic.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, Writing by Ron Popeski)

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