Hodges: There is a precedent of inviting a state to NATO even if part of it is occupied by Russia

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Thursday, December 3

It was underlined that the Alliance provides political and practical support to Georgia and that allies are now doing more together in the maritime field: training the Coast Guard, sharing airspace data and meeting hybrid challenges as well as conducting joint exercises in the Black Sea.

“We must invite Georgia to NATO now,” General Ben Hodges announced.

The report of a special group of NATO experts was published yesterday on the future of the Alliance by 2030. According to the NATO website, the expert report will be one of the things that Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will rely on when he presents his initiatives to the leaders regarding NATO's 2030 program.

It reads that NATO should seek to expand and strengthen its partnership with Ukraine and Georgia as vulnerable democracies that aspire to membership and face constant external and domestic pressure from Russia. The document drafted by the experts also states that the Alliance's open-door policy should be intensified.

According to experts, Russia's aggression against Georgia and Ukraine, as well as Russia's military activities in the Baltic and the Black Sea regions, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Baltic region, and the far north, have negatively affected security in the Euro-Atlantic area.

The report of the members of the working group contains the recommendations for the future development of the Alliance. After controversial issues between the alliance and Ankara concerned Turkey's actions in northern Syria, as well as Turkey's acquisition of Russian S-400 missile systems and Ankara's position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, experts are taking the initiative to limit the possibility of some NATO members blocking NATO decisions. For example, individual allies should not be able to block a common decision made in the field of security. Also, blocking decisions for political reasons should be prohibited.

Foreign Minister of Georgia, Davit Zalkaliani w took part in a 2-day online meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of NATO member states, which started on December 1.

On December 2, the Foreign Ministers of the NATO member states discussed the security of the Black Sea region and the support of Georgia and Ukraine.

The Ministerial also touched upon Georgia's NATO integration process, future activities to promote membership, including the renewal of ‘substantial package’, the security environment in the region, and Georgia-NATO cooperation in the Black Sea security process. The main topics of discussion at the ministerial were NATO adaptation, the development of the Russian military sphere, the growth of China, and the NATO training mission in Afghanistan.

Note that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the Kabul government fear that the reduction or withdrawal of troops involved in the ongoing NATO-led Stability Operation will again open the door for international terrorist groups.

NATO currently has an 11,000-strong military force in Afghanistan, where multinational forces assist local security forces with advice and training. The US on which the success of NATO's multinational mission depends largely on the air and logistical assistance plans to reduce the number of personnel currently in Afghanistan from 8,000 to 2,500 by 2021. NATO defense ministers are expected to make the final decision on the presence of military forces in Afghanistan in February when US President-elect Joe Biden begins work in Washington.

Speaking at an online news conference ahead of the 2-day meeting, Stoltenberg said that in the face of growing Russian military power, NATO should continue to strengthen its position in the Black Sea region, which is of strategic importance.

According to Stoltenberg, NATO is already significantly represented in the Black Sea region, as 3 allies - Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania are coastal countries, NATO Allied warships are being trained in the Black Sea, and Romania has a multinational training brigade. NATO is cooperating closely with its partners Ukraine and Georgia, as Russia has violated the territorial integrity and sovereignty of these countries by annexing Crimea and deploying troops on Georgian territory.

Stoltenberg underscored that NATO is increasing its political and practical support, but sees that Russia is strengthening its military presence in the Black Sea region, so it is necessary to further strengthen NATO's presence in the region.

"NATO needs to become more global and cooperation with partners, including Georgia, will be part of that,” Stoltenberg said following a discussion with NATO foreign ministers discussing NATO's development strategy.

Stoltenberg also spoke about the significant investments made by China in infrastructure in the Black Sea region and stressed that one of the important functions would also be to protect critical infrastructure and strengthen NATO resilience. Regarding the integration of Georgia, he said: “I will not start speculating on the date of Georgia's accession to NATO, but I will say that the decision made at the Bucharest Summit in 2008 is valid.”

According to him one of the tasks of NATO's 2030 strategy is to strengthen NATO's political alliance. This in itself includes strengthening cooperation with partners, including Georgia. "This partnership is good not only for Georgia but also for NATO, as Georgia makes a significant contribution to NATO missions and operations."

“I believe that the best way for Georgia to move closer to the Alliance remains to implement reforms, modernize its security and defense institutions, and for NATO allies to continue to support Georgia,” Stoltenberg concluded, saying that NATO is more widely represented in Georgia referring to the training center near Tbilisi.

The former commander of US ground forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, announced Georgia should be invited to join NATO now. The American general spoke about the strategic importance of the Black Sea region - the US and NATO should be more focused on this region:

"The Kremlin has no right to veto what the Georgian people, the Alliance, or the European Union want to do."

The former commander of the US ground forces in Europe also listed the steps that he believes the US should take to support Georgia. Firstly, Georgia should be invited to NATO. He recalled that West Germany became a member of NATO when Soviet troops were stationed in East Germany. “So there is a precedent for inviting a state to NATO even if part of it is occupied by Russia,” Hodges said. He called for another step, more and larger military exercises. The general considers the third step to be investing in military infrastructure in Georgia.