Former US Ambassador to NATO imparts advice to Georgia
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, September 11
Kurt Volker, a representative of the McCain Institute for International Leadership and the former US Ambassador to NATO, gave several recommendations to the government of Georgia with regards to Russia.
Volker gave an interview to the Interpressnews Agency and said that if we take a look at what Western Europe is doing with regards to Russia, we will see that all of its countries make concessions to Russia, while the United States cannot much be seen on the stage at all.
According to Kurt Volker, in case of a very aggressive response towards Russia, Georgia would be left alone and Western Europe would accuse the country of provocative actions.
"The same happened in 2008. Russia's entry in Georgia was madness, but Saakashvili was blamed for provocative actions. Of course, Tbilisi exercising caution towards Russia makes sense, but at the same time, Georgia should not be passive in various directions, at least for the reason that Russia operates very actively and manages certain processes inside Georgia. I mean anti-Western propaganda and active support of similar attitudes.
“I would give certain recommendations to the government of Georgia - first of all, it must make Russia's actions more transparent and draft documents about its actions in Georgia. Secondly, Georgia should adopt legal measures against any illegal Russian action in Georgia, meaning that it must show that it has legal levers. Thirdly, Georgians must be very careful about the people whom they bring to power and politics generally. Russia’s direct participation in various spheres, government and politics must be prevented and the influence of Moscow should not be increased”, he said.
Kurt Volker was participating in the International Conference - Europe’s New Geopolitical Landscape, which was held in Tbilisi on September 7-8 and was organized by McCain Institute for International Leadership in Georgia and by Economic Policy Research Center.
The Conference was attended by high officials, representatives of the Government and political parties, representatives of political, diplomatic, academic, expert circles and civil society from the USA, Western and Eastern Europe.
