Nato stands united against Russia

Nato sent out a defiant message to Russia at its emergency meeting in Brussels yesterday. The summit was called to formulate a response to Russia's invasion and continued occupation of Georgia.

Foreign ministers from the alliance's 26 member countries told Moscow that there would be no "business as usual" in their dealings with the Kremlin until Russia withdraws all its forces from the Caucasus state.

Although Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed a French-brokered ceasefire deal in Paris last week, his forces remain in large areas of Georgia. They have been accused of destroying Georgian army equipment, and are reported to have laid mines in the country.

The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that "this Nato which has come so far in a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace is not going to permit a new line to be drawn in Europe."

David Miliband, Britain's Foreign Secretary, flew straight from the meeting to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, where he met with Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Soviet satellite state's president.

Miliband promised "an intensification of the relationship between Nato and Georgia" and assured Saakashvili that "it's very, very important Georgian people know that the British government and British people stand in solidarity with them against threats to them, their life, their livelihood and their country."