US President George W Bush has pledged to help defend former communist states and praised them for rejecting dictatorship on the final day of a tour of eastern Europe.

Addressing tens of thousands of people in the Romanian capital Bucharest, he warned that Iraq's "aggressive dictator" Saddam Hussein "threatens the security of every free nation".

The world has suffered enough from fanatics who seek to impose their will through fear and murder

President Bush

He urged Romania and the other prospective new Nato members in eastern Europe not to appease or ignore dictators.

"The Nato alliance and the civilised world are confronting the new enemies of freedom, and we will prevail," he said.

Mr Bush recalled that in 1989 the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, fled from the place where he was speaking - Bucharest's Revolution Square.

New Nato members

Earlier, in another open-air speech in Vilnius, Lithuania, Mr Bush said the admission of former communist states would inject new life into Nato.

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The Atlantic alliance formally invited the Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia to join the organisation at a summit in the Czech capital, Prague, on Thursday.

The BBC's Peter Biles in Bucharest says the Romanian Government is clearly willing to offer military assistance to Washington in the event of any attack against Iraq, although Romania has not yet received an official US request.

Mr Bush told the crowd in Bucharest that Romania would bring "moral clarity" to Nato.

Alluding to Ceausescu, Mr Bush said Romanians "know the difference between good and evil because you have seen evil's face".

"The world has suffered enough from fanatics who seek to impose their will through fear and murder," he said.

"As a Nato ally, you can have this confidence. No one will be able to take away the freedom of your country."

Baltic defence

In Vilnius earlier he pledged that "in the face of aggression, the brave people of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will never again stand alone".

"Anyone who would choose Lithuania as an enemy has also made an enemy of the United States of America," he said.

"Thank you," the crowd chanted back in Lithuanian.

Mr Bush - the first US president to have visited Lithuania - was presented with the Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great by Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.

In return, Mr Bush presented Mr Adamkus - who lived for many years in the US after fleeing the Red Army - with a basketball signed by legendary player Michael Jordan.

Russian scepticism

Mr Bush's European tour came after he sought to reassure Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday that Nato's moves to expand to the east were in Moscow's "best interests".

Mr Putin voiced scepticism, saying: "We do not believe that this [expansion] has been necessitated by the existing facts, but we take note of the position taken by the US president".

Mr Bush stressed that the view at Nato was that Russia was a "friend" and he called for continued co-operation in the US campaign against terrorism.

Mr Putin did not attend the Prague summit, in order to avoid appearing to welcome Nato's invitation to the three Baltic states.