Speaking before a NATO summit in the Latvian capital, Riga, George W. Bush said the Western security alliance will keep its doors open to new members, including Georgia and Ukraine.
The admission of the two ex-Soviet republics would further strengthen NATO's presence in Moscow's former backyard, following the accession of the three Baltic states in 2004.
Among other factors, the pro-Western Georgian leadership sees NATO accession as a way of facilitating the resolution of conflicts with its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which proclaimed their independence from Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tbilisi accuses Russia of supporting separatist forces in the breakaway provinces.
On Tuesday, Georgia's parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said: "It would be easier for Georgia to be first admitted to NATO, and for talks to then begin on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, with the involvement of NATO."
"I also refute Russia's accusations that Georgia seeks a military resolution of these conflicts," she said.
Commenting on NATO's eastward expansion plans, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday it would be inappropriate for Russia to try to influence this process.
"We could take a hard stance and announce that we oppose accession of new countries to NATO. But I think it would be wrong." Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, said.
"Every country has the right to choose the alliance. We are not planning to join NATO," he added.
The defense minister also criticized the NATO leadership for deceiving Russia by not being honest about its expansion plans made in the 1980s-1990s.
"During Germany's unification there were a lot of promises that NATO had no intention of expanding to the east, and where is NATO now? We have been deceived: they said one thing, but did completely the opposite," he said.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, ten eastern European countries - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia - have formally signed up to the North Atlantic Treaty, and become members of the organization.
At present, three countries - Albania, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - are part of NATO's Membership Action Plan, a program designed to provide support for countries wishing to join the alliance.
Ukraine and Georgia are not yet part of the Membership Action Plan.
