NATO to Step Up Support for Georgia, NATO Sec-Gen Says
By Khatia Bzhalava
Thursday, April 7, 2022
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has announced that members of NATO are ready to do more for other Alliance partners who are vulnerable to future threats and invasions from Russia, including Georgia and Bosnia, and Herzegovina. As he noted yesterday, one of the issues that will be discussed at the foreign ministers’ meeting ( April 6-7) is how to step up support for all the Alliance partners.
According to him, by activating political and practical support, NATO can help its partners strengthen resilience and prevent any future aggression. He also noted that Georgia is among the alliance’s close and highly-valued partners.
“I believe that one of the lessons we should learn from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia is that all those who believe in democracy and rule of law must provide support to close and highly-valued partners like Georgia,” NATO Sec-Gen noted, adding that “It is better to support them soon than later”.
Stoltenberg emphasized that Russia controls part of Georgian territory and stated that NATO would look into ways to provide more support and strengthen Georgia in resisting pressure from Russia. As he stated at the briefing on Tuesday, NATO could support Georgia in developing its cybersecurity capabilities and provide additional personnel to the NATO Liaison Office in the country. He also mentioned increasing the support for the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package, including the areas of situational awareness, secure communications, resilience, and cyber.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has also stated that the United States is considering ways to provide additional assistance to non-NATO allies, including Georgia. According to Voice of America, during a discussion of the 2023 fiscal year budget project at the House Armed Services Committee of the United States Congress, Austin stated that Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine poses a historic challenge to transatlantic security. He stressed that the US must continue to make significant investments in all areas of European security.
On Wednesday, the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee approved an act in support of Georgia’s territorial integrity and security. During discussions, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory W. Meeks, Congressmen Gerry Connolly, and Adam Kinzinger reiterated unwavering support for Georgia against the background of Russia’s full-scale intrusion in Ukraine. As congressman Kinzinger underlined in the comments on the act, “this act underscores US support for Georgia’s territorial integrity, independence, and sovereignty, reflected in growing support for security.”
