Minister: Balts to be NATO diplomats to East

With NATO invitations in hand, Baltic leaders said they can best contribute to the alliance by advising Ukraine, Georgia and other aspirants to the east on what it takes to join.

"We understand the mentalities, we have pretty deep roots and communications with these countries," said Lithuanian Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius Dec. 6 on the sidelines of a Riga conference on NATO.

The U.S.-led alliance invited Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and four other ex-communist countries to join at a major summit in Prague last month.

Now, some NATO officials and politicians are pushing for the alliance to focus attention on Europe's democratic hold-outs by moving them swiftly toward liberalism, free markets, military reform and respect for human rights with an eye on one day bringing them into the fold.

"The Baltic states are safe at long last but others are not so lucky. Countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Georgia are still up for grabs," said Vladimir Socor, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Advanced and Strategic Studies.

Democratic shortcomings, economic chaos and, in some cases, armed conflict, mean that all are far from ready to join.

But Linkevicius said the Baltic states, regarded by many as the most advanced of the NATO invitees, can play an important role in pushing them toward the West.

Lithuanian officials have already made trips to Georgia to advise on military modernization and have also had contacts with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, who have been at odds with one another over territorial disputes since the 1991 Soviet collapse.

"They are not the best of friends, but when it comes to NATO, they recognize they have common interests. We are helping to bring them together, and that contributes to security," Linkevicius said

Tedo Japaridze, national security adviser to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, said the Baltic states "are a vibrant example we should follow."

"We understand we have a long way to go, but we have to commit ourselves to a Western orientation now," he said.

Linkevicius said Lithuania had also been trying to encourage more economic freedom and pluralism in neighboring Belarus, regarded as Europe's last authoritarian state, through contacts with officials there.

"By engaging Belarus we have been doing NATO's work," he said. "This shows we can contribute to the alliance, that we're not just consumers of security."

During a visit by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma to Vilnius last month, President Valdas Adamkus promised to mediate between the country and the military alliance in the same way that Poland helped facilitate the Baltic nations' invitations.

Lithuania has increased defense expenditures for 2003 by more than 10 percent.