Washington has given its support to Denmark’s Anders Fogh Rasmussen to become the secretary general of NATO.

This means that the chances that Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski would get the job are now almost nonexistent.

Agence France Presse says they have been told, off the record, that Washington has already informed its allies that it will support Rasmussen.

Denmark’s prime minister can also count on votes from London, Berlin and Paris.

Previous reports suggested that Sikorksi’s candidature was strongly opposed by France and Germany, who are anxious that a Polish head of the alliance would make achieving closer relations with Moscow impossible. President Obama has also signalled that he is going to show a much more dovish attitude towards Russia than his predecessor.

It is also thought that Sikorski - who worked at the neo-con American Enterprise Institute in Washington from 2002 to 2005 - has more in common, as far as his views on foreign policy is concerned, with Republicans and not Democrats such as Obama.

The new NATO secretary of state is to take over the post of Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as of the end of July. He is to be appointed at the NATO summit on April 3-4. (jm/pg)