Russia, NATO loom in Cheney's Ukraine visit

By Tabassum Zakaria

KIEV (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney will reassure Ukrainian leaders of U.S. backing on Friday as they grapple with a domestic political crisis and face up to the fallout from Russia's conflict with Georgia.

Cheney is on a whistle-stop tour of southern Caucasus and Black Sea states, designed to shore up support for U.S. allies after Russia's five-day war with Georgia, which like Ukraine is pressing hard to join NATO.

He came to Kiev after talks in Georgia and oil-producing Azerbaijan, two key links in an energy corridor that bypasses Russia to bring around one percent of world crude oil output daily to western markets from the Caspian Sea.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner openly asked if Russia had designs on parts of Ukraine, notably Crimea, which hosts a major Russian naval base leased from Kiev, in the wake of Moscow's intervention in Georgia's South Ossetia region.

The war in Georgia prompted Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to step up his calls for swift NATO membership, which he says is vital to protect Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"This is only possible in one situation -- when Ukraine integrates into the transatlantic alliance (NATO), starting with receiving the MAP (Membership Action Plan)," he said in a statement on his website.

FOCUS ON CRIMEA

NATO states in April refused to give Ukraine and Georgia a MAP -- the first step towards membership -- but said they would one day join the alliance.