Nato military committee chairman Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, speaking ahead of a visit by a Nato contact group to the Georgian capital Tbilisi, said that the military alliance did not want a new Cold War with Russia.

Speaking at a news conference in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on September 13 after the second day of a meeting of the military committee, Di Paola said that the meeting had discussed issues of strategic importance for the alliance, and not tactical issues. Taking part in the meeting were the chiefs of general staff of Nato member states and applicant countries Albania and Croatia.

Bulgarian National Television reported that Di Paola said that the military committee considered various possible scenarios for the situation in Georgia as well as the future challenges and Nato's possible response.

He said that the crisis between Georgia and Russia did not mean any increased security risks for Bulgaria.

He declined to forecast the outcome of events in the Caucasus. "We do evaluations soberly. I am not Nostradamus," Di Paola said.

Di Paola said that Nato provided equal protection for all its members, but some in the alliance could feel less secure because of their proximity to the conflict zone.

He said that Nato was creating a committee for dialogue with Georgia, and representatives of Nato would visit Tbilisi to decide how to help Georgia. Nato did not want a return to Cold War with Russia and Di Paola said that he believed that Moscow did not want a new Cold War either.

At the meeting, the military committee agreed that a key strategic objective of the alliance remains the building up and modernisation of the Afghan security forces. The chief of staff of the Afghanistan national army and the head of US forces in Afghanistan also participated in the military committee meeting. Di Paola thanked Bulgaria for its participation in Afghanistan.

He said that it was up to individual governments and not the militaries of participating countries to decide on the levels of military personnel deployments in Afghanistan.

Di Paola said that there had been no discussion at the meeting on the extension of the Nato missile shield to include Bulgaria.