NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in an interview with Interfax news agency that Georgia’s further progress toward NATO integration “will depend upon a clear commitment to thorough reform and basic NATO principles, such as the peaceful resolution of internal and external disputes.”

He said that the launch of an Intensified Dialogue with Georgia, which aims to help Georgian officials to understand better the very stringent commitments and standards that are expected of a potential NATO member state, “does not mean that Georgia is on the verge of joining the Alliance.” 
 
He also noted that the states who aspire to membership in NATO do not seek to join an “anti-Russian” alliance. 
 
“If [Russian] President Putin and the Russian leadership believe that NATO is an indispensable strategic partner, I don’t think it should be an 'irritant' when Russia’s neighbors come to this same conclusion,” Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.