New members to be feted at Nato HQ
AFP, Brussels
Nato will bring out the bunting today at a ceremonial welcome for seven ex-communist countries that joined the alliance this week -- before getting down to business in talks with an irate Russia. National flags will be raised and anthems sung as the foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are feted at the first Brussels meeting of the now-26-nation alliance. US Secretary of State Colin Powell will be among the dignitaries on hand to welcome the new members, which joined Nato on Monday by depositing their accession treaties in Washington to take the alliance up to Russia's borders. Moscow has made no effort to hide its irritation at Nato's biggest expansion ever, especially at the inclusion of the Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- which used to be part of the Soviet republic. "If we feel that this expansion poses a threat to us that demands a military response, this response will follow," the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov as warning Monday.
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