Nato reinforced its co-operation with crisis-hit Georgia on Monday in a move certain to exacerbate tensions with Russia.

Speaking in Tbilisi, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s secretary-general, insisted the country remained on a “trajectory” towards fulfilling its hopes for eventual Nato membership. His comments came during a visit to Tbilisi by ambassadors from the alliance’s 26 members to inaugurate a Nato-Georgia commission, a political body designed to “accelerate Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration”.