Georgia, Ukraine seek UN support

The leaders of Georgia and Ukraine go to the United Nations next week hoping to shore up Western support for their future Nato accession faced with a militarily resurgent Russia.

Swept westwards in the 'Rose' and 'Orange' revolutions of 2003 and 2004, the ex-Soviet states are looking anxiously for renewed commitment to their Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

But beyond harsh words, Western powers have yet to define a strategic response to the war over Georgia's South Ossetia, in which Russia showed it was ready to use force to defend spheres of "privileged interest" in its former Soviet backyard.

"Young democracies in this region need the support of developed democracies," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili will say in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, according to senior government official Kakha Lomaia.

"That's why developed democracies need to provide clear roadmaps to meet our European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations."

Russia's intervention in Georgia last month drew international condemnation, but no sanctions.

It deepened concern over the security of energy supplies bypassing Russia from the Caspian Sea to the West, and sharpened divisions between the United States and some European states over the wisdom of NATO's eastwards expansion.

Russia is incensed by the military alliance's promise of membership for Tbilisi and Kiev.