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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday concluded her trip to five eastern European and Caucasus region countries.

Russia, though not part of the current Clinton's visit, was always an invisible presence in her visits to Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as the U.S. diplomat was playing a tricky task of balancing between these countries' interests while having in mind the interests of the non-presenting party, Russia.

U.S.-POLISH DEAL TOO SECURED TO BOTHER MUCH

Clinton visited Poland just days before results for presidential election came out. However, regardless of Poles' choice, which was unknown at the time when Clinton stayed in the antic Polish capital Krakow, everybody was certain that Poland's policy would stay firmly pro-American.

On July 3, Clinton and her Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski signed amendments to the Bush-initiated agreement on anti-missile defense outlining the deployment of the U.S. SM-3 from 2015 to 2018.

Remarkably, Russia this time kept in low profile, though normally Moscow fiercely opposed the plans as a threat to its national security.

"This is because Clinton's visit to Poland is a sort of extra insurance for the U.S. which is interesting to keep Poland as their frontline minuteman," editor-in chief of Kiev's Zavtra daily, Andrei Tomsky, told Xinhua.

NEW REALITY IN UKRAINE

Though new Ukrainian leadership keeps reiterating its final goal of joining the European Union and NATO, it became obvious that Kiev's pro-Western stances faded after Victor Yanukovich came to power.

When "orange coalition" was still in reign, a visiting U.S. official could expect a way more enthusiastic reception in Kiev than that on last Friday, and Clinton made little efforts to conceal this new coolness.

The U.S. secretary of state herself set a new tone in conversations with her Ukrainian hosts, saying that the door to NATO remained open to Ukraine but the country is under no obligation to join.

"Let me say very clearly: Ukraine is a sovereign and independent country that has the right to choose your own alliances," Clinton said during talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko.

Yanukovich was also swift to confirm that his country would stay out of any military blocs that was, undoubtedly, a lovely music for the Russian officials' ears.

"Clinton had her arms tied during her visit to Kiev," Tomsky told Xinhua. "Yanukovich did nothing the U.S. could be patting him for. On the other hand, Washington can be cautious in criticism to Yanukovich not to break a shaky balance in the Moscow-Kiev-Washington triangle."

"No agreement was signed during the visit. This marks U.S. diminutive interest in Ukraine. All talks of the relations 'deepening' and 'extension' are, in my opinion, just a diplomatic euphemism used when one must say something but have nothing real to say," he said.

BALANCING IN GEORGIA

The last leg of Clinton's voyage, Tbilisi, was the briefest but, likely, the most sweating, because the U.S. visitor had to keep a shaky balance after the U-turn Washington made in its relations with Georgia after Obama took office.

While Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili was believed to be the U.S. Republicans' pet politician, the Obama's team sustained much cooler relations with him, favoring the Russian-American "reset".

Aim of Clinton's trip to Tbilisi was, in fact, to persuade Georgian leaders that Washington had not betrayed its ally and the U.S. was not going to fuel the "reset" at the expense of its ties with Tbilisi.

Even before landing to Tbilisi, Clinton had repeated it several times that Washington would not agree with Moscow's stance on Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"We believe that it is possible to reach a certain cooperation program without freezing relations," she said during her stay in Yerevan.

This is why experts believe when behind the closed doors, Clinton was trying not to alienate Saakashvili while persuading him not to put grit in the bearings of U.S.-Russian relations, in particular, not to block the Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"Officially, Georgia has been categorically against Russia's entry to WTO without Moscow making some concessions to Tbilisi," said director of Georgian diplomatic academy Soso Tsintsadze as quoted by local media.

"It looks like Obama has already agreed everything with Medvedev and Clinton tried to bind Georgians to yield," he said.

Clinton also urged Tbilisi not to use force attempting to resolve the issues with Russia, because this will only lead to "further Russian military presence in the region." In exchange, she promised Georgia "the golden age of prosperity" - the prospect majority of Georgians hardly foresee now.

"I think it will be a mistake to stick to the events of the past," Clinton said. "Georgia must go ahead" and "to build democracy, develop economy while finding common ground with Russia", she told local female politicians.

"This was a meeting on behalf of Russia, not Georgia," political expert Pata Zakereishvili said.

Xinhua/ Editor: Mu Xuequan