Nato unlikely to grant Georgia step to membership, sources say

Nato member-states, wary of antagonizing Russia, are unlikely to grant former Soviet republic Georgia a formal step towards membership of the alliance at a summit in September, Reuters cites sources in the North-Atlantic Alliance as saying.

With Nato-Russia tensions running high after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, the question of whether to invite Georgia to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP), putting the country closer to its goal of Nato membership, has spawned conflicting views in the alliance, Reuters reports.

Some allies oppose granting Georgia MAP membership, fearing it could provoke Russian retaliation, whereas others say it would look as if Nato was bowing to Russian pressure if it did not. One Nato diplomat said the alliance was split 50:50 - and therefore far from the required consensus, the news agency reports.