Russia says NATO "playing with fire" on expansion

By Conor Sweeney and Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned NATO on Friday against expansion into ex-Soviet neighbors Georgia and Ukraine ahead of a NATO summit next week that will discuss what Moscow sees as deep encroachment into its backyard.

In separate comments, Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov and a Kremlin spokesman said possible NATO membership for the two countries would have repercussions for any plans to improve Moscow's ties with the Western military alliance.

Lavrov warned Georgia against using NATO membership as a tool to regain control over its rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which broke away in the 1990s and enjoy Russian support.

"Concerning South Ossetia and Abkhazia, if Georgia intends to gain NATO support in order to solve these two conflicts by means of force, it's a dangerous game," Lavrov told journalists.

"The population of South Ossetia and Abkhazia cannot think of joining NATO," he said after meeting his colleagues from the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States. "In such a complicated issue it's a dangerous game to play with fire."

Georgia, whose pro-Western leaders want to move out of Moscow's orbit, is seeking membership in NATO and the European Union. Ukraine also hopes the NATO summit in Bucharest next week will grant it a roadmap towards joining the alliance.

The United States is backing both bids. But France, Germany and some other European nations say the move would be untimely.

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