By Mark John

BRUSSELS, March 30 (Reuters) - The largest summit in NATO's history starting next Wednesday could mould the West's relations with Russia for years to come and show whether the U.S.-led alliance has the resolve to win the war in Afghanistan.

The three-day meet in Bucharest offers U.S. President George W. Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin -- an unusual guest at the NATO feast -- the chance to brush up the legacies they leave on the world stage as each prepares to leave office.

NATO decisions on the membership hopes of Ukraine and Georgia, together with Putin's reaction to U.S. ideas for a new strategic pact with Moscow, could decide whether the summit marks a turning-point or deterioration in Russia-West ties.

All eyes will be on the sharp-tongued Putin who is adamantly opposed to the two former Soviet allies joining NATO and could well seize the occasion to speak his mind.

"A lot of what happens at this summit will depend on the duet between the two presidents," Frans van Daele, Belgian ambassador to NATO, told a recent conference on the summit.

The gargantuan Parliament Palace of communist-era dictator Nicolae Ceausescu will host no fewer than 60 leaders from NATO states, partners and aspirant members, plus Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Germany, France and a handful of other western European allies do not buy the U.S. argument that now is the time to offer Ukraine and Georgia the membership action plan (MAP) -- a roadmap to eventual entry -- they are seeking.

Such a step would give Bush the satisfaction of having set the stage for NATO's frontiers to extend all the way to Russia's eastern border from the Baltic to the Black Sea, with the exception of Belarus.

That would go alongside less controversial membership invitations that the summit is expected to hand to Croatia and Albania -- and Macedonia if it is able to resolve a long-running row over its name with NATO ally Greece.

TEST-CASE

Washington argues that Russia has swallowed past NATO enlargements to the east and that it is best to finish the business now rather than have it complicate a possible new start with President-elect Dmitry Medvedev. But others disagree.

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