KIEV, June 17 - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday he would try to persuade all NATO members to back the idea of extending to Ukraine a Membership Action Plan (MAP), a step to joining the military alliance, Reuters reported.

Scheffer was winding up a two-day visit to the ex-Soviet state where many people are unenthusiastic about NATO after decades of propaganda portraying it as a warmonger. Scheffer said his visit amounted to an "outreach program" to "debunk" myths about the alliance.