Tbilisi - NATO chief Jaap de Hoop, speaking Tuesday in Georgia, asserted that the alliance would continue to expand toward Russia's borders, and declared Moscow had no veto on the former Soviet republic's NATO bid.

Scheffer led a delegation of ambassadors from the Western alliance's 26 members in a firm show of support for Georgia as Russian troops remained in its rebel regions after winning a war in August.

"NATO enlargement will continue," Scheffer said. "No other country will have a veto over that process, nor will we allow our strong ties to Georgia to be broken by outside military intervention, and pressures."

But Scheffer, who has taken a harsh line toward the Kremlin during the conflict, was more compromising in a speech at Tbilisi state university earlier Tuesday.

"NATO will continue to stand by Georgia - but neither will we close our doors to Russia. That would not be the right thing to do, nor would it be in our interest. Russia is a reality that we cannot ignore," the alliance chief told students in a statement posted on NATO's website.

"Nor are we in the business of punishing Russia. As a matter of fact, looking at the international isolation that Russia has got itself into, Russia is really punishing itself," he added.

Russia and NATO froze relations last month in differences over Russia's military push into Georgia, but continued to allow the alliance safe passage through its territory for operations its operations in Afghanistan.

Scheffer acknowledge NATO was not united in its support for Georgia's bid to join Europe's security umbrella.

The former Soviet state needs more democratic reforms, he said, to "foster greater consensus" among alliance members.

"I must be frank and say that there is more that Georgia must still do to meet NATO's democratic standards fully," Scheffer said.

Georgian politicians have begun to publicly question Saakshvili's failed and costly gambit to reassert control over breakaway South Ossetia, which brought war with Russia. Some opposition members called for his resignation.

Western allies were disappointed by Saakashvili, who swept to power in the 2003 popular Rose Revolution, when he declared emergency rule and set riot police against thousands-strong opposition protests last autumn. (dpa)