US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is to visit five countries including former states of the Soviet Union this weekend in part to try to allay fears that better US-Russian relations may come at their expense.
Ms Clinton leaves today for Ukraine, Poland, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, making her first trip as the most senior US diplomat to the countries.
US president Barack Obama's effort to "reset" relations with Russia have left lingering doubts in the region - notably in Georgia - that Washington may neglect their interests in the service of improved ties with Moscow.
US officials deny this, arguing that better US-Russian relations are good for Russia's neighbours and that countries should not have to choose between one or the other.
The Cold War came back with a vengeance this week when US officials arrested 10 alleged Russian spies - an eleventh was picked up in Cyprus - but the United States and Russia said rolling up the alleged spy ring would not hurt their ties.
Ms Clinton's trip - over the Fourth of July US Independence Day holiday weekend - may help counter regional concerns about the US-Russian thaw, US analysts and officials said.
"(She is) trying to roll back some of the damage that is perceived to have been done by the reset - the idea that the United States has essentially abandoned its post-Soviet allies," said Matthew Rojansky, deputy director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Russia and Eurasia Programme.
"Showing up there on the Fourth of July is not bad symbolism," he added, stressing he did not believe the Obama administration was giving short shrift to Russia's neighbours.
Ms Clinton begins her trip in Kiev, where tomorrow she will meet new Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, who took office on February 25th and quickly fulfilled many preelection predictions that he would tilt Ukraine back toward its old Soviet master.
Under president Yanukovich, Ukraine has approved allowing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to maintain its base in Crimea until 2042 and has abandoned the aim of joining Nato, a goal championed by his pro-Western predecessor Viktor Yushchenko.
Mr Yanukovich has said he plans to steer Ukraine along a middle path between Russia and Europe, improving ties with Moscow while bringing his nation into the European mainstream.
"One of the things that I hope the secretary does when she is in Kiev is say, 'look, from the outside it looks like you have leaned rather dramatically toward Russia,'" said Steven Pifer, an analyst at the Brookings Institution think tank.
"'If in fact you are interested in a more balanced relationship, you might want to pay some more attention to your relations with the United States and with Europe,'" Mr Pifer, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, added.
Ms Clinton stops in Krakow, Poland, on Saturday for a gathering of the Community of Democracies, a group that promotes democratic norms, and then visits Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have long sparred over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Reuters