The United States has said it was cutting off military aid to 35 countries because they back the International Criminal Court and have not exempted Americans from possible prosecution.
The list of countries includes Colombia and six nations seeking NATO membership: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Another dozen countries were also prohibited from receiving US military aid but they had not been getting any this year.
The decision to suspend aid is the latest attack by the Bush administration on the international court, set up last year to try war crimes and acts of genocide.
The United States signed the 1998 treaty creating the court. But the Bush administration is afraid the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, backed by most European countries, might hear politically motivated prosecutions of US military and civilian leaders.
The Bush administration hopes that some of the 35 countries will sign bilateral Article 98 agreements exempting US personnel from prosecution in the court. But of the seven countries invited to join NATO, only Romania has signed an Article 98 agreement with Washington.
The US had hoped that the threat to withdraw aid would bring a last-minute rush to sign Article 98 agreements. Altogether 44 governments have publicly acknowledged signing the agreements and at least seven others have signed secret agreements.
The US has already disbursed most of the military aid for this year so the real effect will not come to light until the start of the new fiscal year in October.