KIEV, March 31 – President George W. Bush arrived in Ukraine late Monday to stress U.S. support for the country’s plans to join the NATO alliance and to diversify Kiev’s heavy reliance on Russian energy imports.

Bush is expected to hold talks with Ukraine’s pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday ahead of a NATO summit in Bucharest that may invite the country for potential membership.

Russia has been strongly opposing NATO’s eastward expansion, saying membership for Ukraine and Georgia - which is also seeking a membership plan - would be a threat to its security.

Bush, in an interview with German daily newspaper Die Welt published Monday, said Ukraine and Georgia should be given a "clear prospect" of joining NATO.

White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said these countries are not asking to immediately become part of NATO, but rather to initiate a process that will prepare them for membership, according to the Voice of America report. He said that process could take years.

"What we have learned in our experience in Central and Eastern Europe is that [the membership plan] can provide a useful framework to encourage countries to make the right decisions they need to make to advance their own reform and democracy," Hadley said, quoted by the Voice of America.

But several other NATO members, such as Germany and France, have previously voiced concerns about Ukraine and Georgia, saying they may not be ready to begin the membership process.

And while the goal to become part of the alliance is strongly supported by the Ukrainian government, the general public is far less united on the subject.

This is Bush’s first visit to Ukraine.

Bush, who has cited Ukraine as a showcase of democratic change following the Orange Revolution in November 2004, was originally expected to visit the country in the summer of 2006.

But the visit was postponed after the surprise creation of the pro-Russian coalition in Parliament following the March 2006 election that had challenged Yushchenko’s pro-Western foreign policy.

In December 2007 the pro-Russian government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was replaced by the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko following the snap parliamentary election in September 2007.

Following the talks with Yushchenko, Bush is also expected to visit the historic St. Sophia's Cathedral, as well as a public school where he will view a student presentation on preventing AIDS. (tl/ez)