Mr. Vanous said West Germany's eagerness to overcome Soviet objections on the issue of a united Germany's military alliance membership is also a factor.

"Clinton might not be able to give the Czechs what they want on alliance membership," an American official here said, "but if he accepted the Czech offer to take Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, he would make them very happy."

It has joined NATO's so-called Partnership for Peace, but has not applied for alliance membership; last spring, it refused to let NATO planes fly over to bomb nearby Yugoslavia.

But suddenly more important is the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, founded in 1997 for the 25 countries that belong to the Partnership for Peace, a sort of auditioning hall for alliance membership.

NATO officials announced this month that Georgia is being considered for eventual admission into alliance membership.

But they rejected the suggestion of dual alliance membership.

At a meeting in Brussels in December 1993 the NATO defense ministers agreed to consider for future alliance membership those non-NATO nations that participated in the program.

A year ago, Yugoslav Government ministers and the policy elite seriously pondered joining NATO's Partnership for Peace program, a sort of training ground and waiting room for alliance membership.

But we are in full agreement that the matter of alliance membership is, in accordance with the Helsinki final act, a matter for the Germans to decide.

Diplomats say an understanding that joining the partnership will eventually lead to full alliance membership is important for the Eastern European Governments because they will be expected to spend money bringing their military equipment and training up to alliance standards.