EU must commit to Ukraine after Georgia - think tank

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union think tank said on Monday the bloc should make specific commitments to Ukraine after Russia sent troops into Georgia.

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) said the EU should respond to Russia's August 8 military incursion with "stronger engagement for democracy, prosperity and security in the broader region" but keep "tough measures towards Moscow on the table if Russia resists".

Relations with Ukraine, with which the EU holds a joint summit on September 9, should be a key plank of such a strategy. Ukraine, like Georgia, is a former Soviet state with a large Russian minority population whose leaders have irked Moscow by seeking closer ties with the West, including membership of NATO.

"The EU should ... make a special commitment to Ukraine," the think tank said in a policy brief.

"It should recognise the right to EU membership in future, agree to a more liberal visa regime, offer a solidarity clause backing Ukraine's territorial integrity, and move to integrate Ukraine into the EU's energy market."

Harsh actions against Russia would be counterproductive, the ECFR said.

EU diplomats are considering the 27-nation bloc's response to Russia's assault on Georgia, which followed an attempt by Tbilisi to retake control of its separatist, pro-Russian province of South Ossetia.

A ceasefire -- signed by Georgia and Russia on August 15 and 16 respectively -- ended the brief war but Moscow has so far ignored Western demands it remove its remaining soldiers from Georgia's heartland.

In its policy brief, the ECFR said the EU should also strengthen its membership pledge to Moldova, which borders Ukraine. It should push for a mandate to supplement Russian and Georgian troops in South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, with international peacekeepers, and contribute several hundred soldiers to such a force.

The EU should also back an international commission of inquiry into the Georgia conflict to establish its causes, the think tank said.

The EU has taken a more cautious line towards Russia than the United States, which has said Moscow's actions could affect Russian membership of the Group of Eight industrialised nations and its bid to join the World Trade Organisation.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Catherine Evans)