BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO leaders risk enflaming regional tensions if they bow to Russian pressure and block the membership aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia at a summit next week, Georgia's foreign minister warned Wednesday.

David Bakradze said a snub at the April 2-4 summit in Bucharest, Romania, would encourage hawks in Moscow to continue to support breakaway regions in Georgia, and undermine Western-minded reformists.

"'No' in Bucharest will be very clearly seen by some people in Moscow as their success, and it will be very clearly seen in Moscow that they have indirect veto right on NATO decisions," Bakradze told reporters before visiting NATO headquarters.

Georgia and Ukraine have asked the NATO summit to grant them a "membership action plan," which would set out a path to membership.

Moscow is bitterly opposed. President Vladimir Putin has threatened to aim nuclear weapons at Ukraine if it joins NATO and accepts the deployment of anti-missile defenses on its territory. The Russian parliament last week urged the Kremlin to consider recognizing the independence of two separatist regions in Georgia, part of a campaign to keep it out of NATO.

NATO is split over the issue. The United States, Canada and eastern European members are backing Ukraine and Georgia. Germany is leading Western European opposition, warning that granting the membership plan would torpedo hopes of improving relations with Russia as Putin prepares to hand over to Dmitry Medvedev.

Diplomats at NATO headquarters said talks were under way "at the highest level" between Washington and Berlin to find an agreement. They said some Western European nations had shifted recently toward support for Ukraine and Georgia, but said the two countries did not have the unanimous support needed to move ahead on the membership track.

The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity as the talks are sensitive. They said the summit could produce a statement of support of the membership bids of Ukraine and Georgia and offer them increased cooperation, while stopping short of granting the formal membership program.

Bakradze said that was unacceptable, and warned that NATO's much vaunted "open door" policy to European democracies would be seriously weakened if his country's bid is rejected.

"Bucharest will be a test case for NATO, whether NATO will be able to successfully continue to safeguard these two key principles: open door and no veto for nonmember states," he said.

Russia opposes the eastward expansion of NATO, and it is particularly keen to keep out Ukraine and Georgia - strategically important neighbors on key East-West energy routes around the Black Sea.

Western European diplomats have argued that the timing of the push by Ukraine and Georgia is unfortunate, since NATO's relations with Russia are already strained over Kosovo's independence and U.S. plans to base missile defenses in eastern Europe.

Bakradze rejected those arguments.

"From all our experience with Russians, the most effective policy with Russians is policy based on principles, not on appeasement," he warned.

If NATO opens up to Georgia and Ukraine, it will help end the separatist conflicts and boost stability in the whole Black Sea region, Bakradze insisted.

Putin is due to attend part of the NATO summit and is scheduled to meet U.S. President George W. Bush separately in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on April 6, for what is expected to be their last encounter before the Russian leader steps down.