NATO Consults With Its Partners Ahead of NATO-Russia Council meeting, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg Says

By Khatia Bzhalava

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomes that Russia has agreed to a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, David Zalkaliani, the telephone conversation with the NATO Deputy Secretary-General is a confirmation of the constant attention paid to Georgia from its partners.

As NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has announced, ahead of the NATO-Russia council meeting, which is scheduled on January 12 in Brussels, the alliance is consulting closely with other partners, including Georgia, Moldova, Finland, Sweden, and the European Union. NATO Secretary-General welcomes that Russia has agreed to a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, assessing it as a ‘positive signal’. He said the parties would focus on European security issues, transparency related to military activities, risk reduction, and arms control. According to Stoltenberg, they will listen to Russia’s concerns but the alliance will address their concerns about Russia's actions as well.

On January 10, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, David Zalkaliani spoke over the phone with the NATO Deputy Secretary-General, Mircea Geoana, regarding the ongoing European security talks between Russia and NATO allies. According to the NATO Deputy Secretary-General, the Russian Federation’s proposals regarding the so-called security guarantees ‘contain provisions that contradict the fundamental principles and values of NATO’. The Deputy Secretary-General reaffirmed the Alliance's unwavering support for the decision made at the Bucharest Summit that Georgia will become a member of NATO, noting that “any attempt of the third country to interfere in the foreign and security policy of the sovereign states is inadmissible.”

On December 10, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged NATO to annul the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit decision which says that Georgia and Ukraine will become NATO members. According to the statement, ‘to ensure the vital interests of European security,’ the decision made at the Bucharest summit should be disavowed. After the Russia-US Strategic Stability Dialogue (SSD), which took place on Monday in Geneva, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that Russia needed guarantees that Ukraine and Georgia would never join NATO, stressing that they are ‘fed up with loose talks and half promises’.

US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan released a video address yesterday where she notes that Russia does not have a veto over sovereign decisions and remarked that Russia’s demands are ‘unacceptable’ because it attempts to “recreate the Soviet domination and control over its neighbors.” According to her, the United States respects the sovereignty of each country, including Georgia and Ukraine, noting that the US would not negotiate about Georgia without engaging Georgia in the discussions.

“We will continue to join the overwhelming majority of the international community in calling for Russia to end its occupation of Georgia,” the US ambassador noted, adding that as stated in the Bucharest declaration, when the conditions are met, Georgia and other partners will become members of NATO. According to her, Russia wishes to establish an exclusive sphere of influence throughout Eastern Europe and the Caucasus and Russian President Putin’s goal is to stop these countries, including Georgia, from acting as fully sovereign, independent nations that have the right to choose their security partners.