NATO resists U.S. pressure on Russia penalties

Rice also said that NATO had made "very clear" that it would not allow Russia to re-create an Iron Curtain dividing eastern and western Europe anew after the end of the Cold War.

"This alliance ... is not going to permit a new line to be drawn in Europe," she said. "There will absolutely be no new line and NATO does not accept that there is a new line."

Of immediate importance, the ministers said is for Russia to honor to the cease-fire that was brokered by France, the country that currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Despite repeated promises from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to pull his troops out of Georgia in accordance with the agreement, Moscow has yet to make significant withdrawals, bringing firm rebukes from NATO members.

"It is time for the Russian president to keep his word to withdraw Russian forces," Rice said in comments echoed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who helped negotiate the deal.

"We are very disappointed, because despite the promise to us, there is no withdrawal of troops," Kouchner told reporters after Tuesday's meeting. "When you sign up to an agreement you have to respect it."

European Union foreign ministers were to meet in Brussels later Tuesday to consider how to react to Russia's defiant stance.

Kouchner said French President Nicolas Sarkozy may call an European summit to review EU relations with Russia if Moscow does not respect the cease-fire.

"We don't want to use this sort of pressure, but we also don't want this document to remain a dead letter," he said.

Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Russia had agreed to allow 20 more international military monitors in and around Georgia's disputed region of South Ossetia, the flashpoint separatist region at the heart of the current conflict.

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