Nato parliamentarians meet in Lithuania

Parliamentarians from Nato countries and associate states have begun their first ever meeting on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

The five-day meeting in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, is expected to discuss the planned enlargement of Nato, bringing in more countries from the former Soviet bloc, including the three Baltic states.

Russia - which has been invited to such meetings since the end of the Cold War - is staying away from Vilnius in protest at the prospect of any further enlargement of the western military alliance.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service