"A country should become a NATO member not only when its temporary political leadership is in favour but when a significant percentage of the population supports membership," Merkel said in Berlin in reference to Ukraine and Georgia.

"Countries that are themselves entangled in regional conflicts, can in my opinion not become members," she added after talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Kiev and Tbilisi are expected to use the NATO military alliance's April 2-4 summit in Romania to confirm that they are candidates to join the alliance but their chances of securing a formal invitation seem remote.

Ukraine's leaders have asked to join NATO's Membership Action Plan, but public opinion at home is largely against the move.

In Georgia, the public is largely in favour of NATO membership, but the alliance was made uneasy by the state of emergency the government imposed in December to end opposition protests.

A further problem is that Russia vehemently opposes the ambitions of its two neighbours, and has accused the Western alliance of trying to encircle it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday during a visit by Merkel to Moscow that NATO was aiming to replace the United Nations and warned this raised the potential for conflict.

NATO has said Russia will have no veto on membership for the two ex-Soviet allies, but many members are loathe to provoke a further row with Moscow on top of a dispute over US plans to place missile defence equipment in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Russia's envoy to NATO issued a stern warning against Georgia and Ukraine joining the Western alliance in an interview published Monday in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.

Dmitry Rogozin said "pushing Georgia into the alliance is a provocation which could lead to a bloodbath."

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