Russia will allow Nato to use its land to deliver supplies and "non-lethal" military equipment to Afghanistan, but has rejected the proposal to allow use of its airspace to the same end, it emerged on April 4, the last day of the Nato summit in Bucharest.

Russian president Vladimir Putin arrived in Bucharest to attend the Nato summit as a guest and it was hoped that the agreement would showcase the unprecedented level of co-operation between the alliance and Moscow, Reuters reported.

The outgoing Russian president is also scheduled to meet the US president George Bush at least three times over several days. On April 5 and 6, the Russian head of state will be receiving Bush in his Black Sea residence in Sochi.

According to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, Putin and Bush, alongside other Nato leaders, are scheduled to discuss Kosovo's unilateral independence, the eastward expansion of the alliance and US plans to deploy parts of its anti-missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Their meeting comes after the US president lost ground on his call to give membership action plans to two former Soviet states, Ukraine and Georgia, with a score of Nato states reluctant to follow Washington's lead on the issue.

Even worse for Bush, who is trying to cement his foreign policy legacy in Bucharest, Macedonia was denied an invitation to the alliance despite his emphatic call for Greece to put aside its objections to Skopje's membership.

Russia vehemently opposes the integration of both Ukraine and Georgia in the alliance, seeing the accession of its two neighbours as a direct threat to its national security. On the same grounds, Russia is objecting to the US plans to station a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptors in Poland.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that the Russian and US leaders intended to discuss a “strategic framework agreement”, which is hoped to be signed already at the weekend.