Ukraine remains confident on NATO before Bush visit

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials expressed confidence on Monday that they would win approval this week for the first step in a bid to join NATO, hours ahead of a visit to Kiev by U.S. President George W. Bush.

A few thousand leftist protesters denouncing Washington and NATO gathered in Kiev ahead of Bush's arrival on Monday evening for talks with Ukraine's pro-Western leaders. Some protesters carried red flags and, for a time, placards bearing obscenities.

Ukraine's bid to secure a Membership Action Plan (MAP) at this week's NATO summit in Romania is running up against opposition from Russia, limited support for the alliance inside Ukraine and doubts among NATO nations in western Europe.

But Ukraine's top foreign policy adviser, Oleksander Chaliy, had no doubts Ukraine would win over NATO allies.

"We believe Ukraine and our strategic partners will have sufficient arguments to persuade and win over countries which still harbour specific doubts about granting Ukraine a membership plan," Chaliy told a news conference.

"I believe we will get a positive reply on April 3."

U.S. Ambassador William Taylor said Bush saw MAP as "good for Ukraine and good for NATO" and support from President Viktor Yushchenko's pro-Western administration was "very useful".

"But President Bush is also keen to talk himself with those leaders and other people in this city so that he can go to Bucharest with even stronger arguments," he told the briefing.

For Ukrainian leaders, seeking NATO membership is part of the same drive towards Western institutions as its long-term policy of joining the European Union.

A poll this month showed backing for membership at 30 percent but also showed most Ukrainians do not see the issue as a priority. Yushchenko and his allies blame decades of Soviet propaganda depicting NATO as an arch enemy bent on war.

MODERATE CROWDS AT DEMO

Rallies against Bush's visit have drawn moderate crowds.

About 5,000 protesters, Communists and other leftists, massed in Independence Square, site of the 2004 "orange" protests that swept Yushchenko to power, before moving off to the U.S. embassy under the watchful eye of police.

Many waved flags and placards saying "Bush out of Ukraine", and "Yankee go home". Soviet-era songs blared in the background.

A further 5,000 marchers, many from other regions, protested against NATO at the weekend in Crimea, an area traditionally opposed to the alliance and populated mainly by ethnic Russians.

Yushchenko, along with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the speaker of parliament, sent NATO a MAP request in January, provoking protests by opponents. The Regions Party of ex-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich blocked parliament's work for weeks.

All Ukrainian leaders say that MAP is an initial step and any decision on membership must be submitted to a referendum.

Russia opposes membership on the grounds that it would intrude on its sphere of influence.

France and Germany, citing Russian opposition and poor public support for NATO in Ukraine, are sceptical about granting a MAP in Bucharest to both Ukraine and Georgia.

German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said both countries should be encouraged with an open door to NATO.

"But we are of the view that the time is not ripe to offer them the membership action plan ... because a number of points still need to be clarified," he told a briefing in Berlin.

(Additional reporting by Sergei Karazy and Noah Barkin in Berlin; editing by Keith Weir)