Senator Jim Risch – Talk to Georgian Gov’t on Threats from Russia
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, April 4
The Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate expressed support to Georgia’s state sovereignty and stressed the need to expand support to the aspiration of Georgia and Ukraine to become members of NATO.
During the hearing on the topic “NATO at 70: A Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century” held on April 2, Senator Jim Risch said that NATO was a military-political alliance that respected united values and principles including democracy, human rights and supremacy of law.
“Former Soviet Union countries aspire at NATO membership not only with the purpose to be protected from Russia but with the aim of economic development as well. Russia once again became a threat to NATO. You can talk to the governments of Georgia and Ukraine if any suspicions still remain,” Senator Jim Risch said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated ahead of the 70th-anniversary events that Russia continues to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) by developing and deploying SSC-8 missiles, as the latter cannot be easily detected and ‘lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, and make us all less safe.’
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also stated that NATO is concerned by Russia’s pattern of aggressive behavior including its ongoing actions against Ukraine and the seizure of Ukrainian sailors and ships near the Azov Sea.
“NATO has already stepped up its presence in the Black Sea. And we continue to work closely with our partners in the region,” he said.
Georgia is the largest non-NATO contributor to mission Resolute Support with 870 troops.
The Resolute Support mission was a follow-on task from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission, to which Georgia contributed about 750 troops.
Thirty-two Georgian soldiers have been killed and more than 430 received injuries while serving in Afghanistan.
