NATO Snubs Georgia’s Entry Prospects in Averting Russia Showdown

NATO played down Georgia’s near-term membership prospects, avoiding a new front in the alliance’s confrontation with Russia.

Georgia, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus that lost a five-day war to Russia in 2008, will be offered a “substantive package” to deepen ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.