NATO-Russia feud erupts over Georgia conflict

MOSCOW: NATO-Russia relations plunged to their lowest point in years Tuesday over the conflict in Georgia and Russia's failure to withdraw from the former Soviet republic.

The Russian military took 21 Georgian soldiers prisoner in the latest flaring of tension in Georgia.

As Western criticism intensified, Moscow pulled its navy out of joint exercises with NATO, while foreign ministers from the alliance declared that "business as usual" would now be impossible.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of failing to respect a French-brokered peace plan requiring both sides to move troops back to their positions before Georgia launched an offensive on the separatist region of South Ossetia.

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NATO warns Russia on ties, offers Georgia support

NATO allies say that regular contacts with Russia is impossible until its troops are fully withdrawn from Georgia, and say they were "seriously considering" the implications of Moscow's actions.

"We have determined that we cannot continue with business as usual," the 26 NATO states said in a joint declaration after emergency talks in Brussels over the South Ossetia conflict.

Separately, they agreed to set up a new forum known as a NATO-Georgia Commission to deepen ties with Tbilisi.

NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference it would function along similar lines to an 11-year-old arrangement with Ukraine but would not prejudge Georgia's prospects of entering the alliance.

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