"I don't connect these two issues. If Russia has its own position, we have to argue," Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said after meeting his counterparts Arnold Ruutel of Estonia and Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia.
Russian military sources cited by Russian news agencies claimed last week that Moscow had finally met its obligations under the Treaty for Conventional Arms Reduction in Europe (CFE).
But other Russian officials warned Moscow would no longer feel obligated to honor the treaty limiting conventional weapons on the continent if the Baltic states joined NATO and not the treaty, claiming NATO could then station large amounts of weapons in those states.
Russia has sternly opposed the Baltic states joining NATO.
The CFE treaty was originally agreed in 1990, before the Baltic states regained independence from Moscow. Until an updated version negotiated in 1998 is ratified there is no mechanism for the three states to accede to the treaty.
The meeting of the three Baltic presidents came before a trip by Adamkus to the United States to meet President George W. Bush on Jan. 17.
Vike-Freiberga said Adamkus' visit was crucial to driving home the need for the Baltic states to join NATO ahead of this November's NATO summit in Prague, where enlargement is slated to be discussed.
"We still want to see the support of the United States for our goals in rejoining the international community," said Vike-Freiberga.
Attending his first Baltic presidents' meeting since being elected late last year, Ruutel said Estonia would do its utmost to continue cooperation between the three countries.
"In the history of our nations we have a lot in common, and our common objectives are to be jointly accepted in the European Union and NATO."
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