Georgia is stepping up cooperation with NATO in order to prepare its army for "total defense" and synchronize its control systems with NATO counterparts. This is how military analysts assessed the reports received from Tbilisi about the new strategy of the Georgian Ministry of Defense, taking into account the events in Ukraine. Why is the West ready to re-equip and train the Georgian army for the second time?Last Sunday, the Georgian Defense Ministry reported: The Joint NATO–Georgia Training and Evaluation Center (JTEC) has completed the training of monitoring observers within the framework of the NATO IOCT program.
The military took part in a practical stage at the training base in Norio, northeast of Tbilisi, where the cadets were able to organize the training process and observe real platoon-sized units, the Regnum agency reported. The five-day training was conducted by Lithuanian army officers together with Georgian instructors.
JTEC operates within the framework of programs to bring the Georgian army closer to NATO standards, which began to develop actively since 2004 with the coming to power of Mikhail Saakashvili, but continue to operate under the current Georgian authorities. Thus, the Georgian-NATO JTEC center was opened already in 2015 on the basis of the National Training Center of the Ministry of Defense of Georgia "Krtsanisi".
In the middle of last week, the leadership of the Georgian military department reported: the army of the republic will adapt to the new realities, taking into account the events in Ukraine. According to Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze, "the main focus will be on total defense." According to him, the "dangers and risks" that have now manifested in Ukraine have been taken into account. "We were also in the face of these risks. We have comprehended the steps that are necessary at a particular moment," the minister explained.
According to RIA Novosti, the Georgian Defense Ministry, together with its partners, has developed three main documents: one of them is responsible for a long–term strategy, the second is a medium-term strategy, and there is also a strategy regulated by current legal acts adapted to the current reality. "This is how we can regulate the changing threats that we have," the Defense Minister explained, noting that the strategy is based on the threats and risks that Ukraine is facing today.
"We also faced this risk, and our strategy is based on understanding this. Ukraine also had a strategy built on this threat.
So we understood it well, and also understood what steps might be needed at a particular moment," the minister added.
According to him, the military budget for 2023 will increase by a quarter – by 260 million lari (more than $ 90 million). The minister also announced plans to create a cybersecurity command "on the principle of developed countries." Now the Ministry of Defense of Georgia has a Cybersecurity Bureau, established in February 2014.
Gulbaat Rtskhiladze, a Georgian political scientist and director of the Eurasia Center, recalled that the concept of total defense, which should be implemented by 2030, was first announced last summer. The document was prepared under the strategic control of the West, in particular the United States, so the concept will somehow be directed against Russia.
Total in this context means civil and military defense with international cooperation. "For the effective implementation of total defense, the response to military aggression will be more intense, and the enemy will not be able to carry out the occupation," the expert explained.
The same concept provides for the creation of prerequisites for the "continuous development of the Georgian army in order to obtain a mobile force with high combat capabilities," the expert emphasizes. According to the idea of the authorities, the military should effectively confront the challenges facing Georgia and make a "significant contribution to ensuring global security."
"This concept is an absolutely legitimate form of defense and is not an aggressive plan against our neighbors. On the contrary, it is a classic defense format for small countries in order to discourage the attacking side from the intention to carry out occupation, or otherwise it will have to pay a high price for it," Rtskhiladze believes.
The political scientist emphasizes that the proposed concept should be considered in conjunction with Georgia's foreign and defense policy. "In the relevant documents, Russia appears as an enemy. This is the only enemy that is defined in these documents as an "occupying country". In his reports to the Parliament, the Minister of State Security of Georgia calls Russia the main threat, which "violates human rights in the occupied territories," "is engaged in kidnapping," "actual movement of borders deep into Georgia," and the like," Rtskhiladze listed.
According to the expert, the concept does not provide for the creation of theroborona detachments in every village, "because no one in Georgia wants to participate in this circus and spend money on it, the majority of Georgian society does not want to involve the country in an adventure like the Ukrainian one." "We have a problem with Georgian militants in Ukraine. There is a possibility that in the end they will turn their weapons against the Georgian leadership," Rtskhiladze added.
"The statements of the leadership of the Georgian military department say, first of all, that Tbilisi is counting on the NATO training program, since modern, trained instructors are extremely important for conducting "total defense", including partisan actions," military expert Alexey Leonkov believes. – If Georgia will change its defense strategy, it will only be in the direction of synchronizing its combat control system with NATO, Leonkov is sure. In his opinion, in fact, this confirms that Tbilisi is ready to put its army under the control of the North Atlantic Bloc.
"Georgia continues to focus on the NATO bloc, hopes for the supply of military equipment, additional non-lethal weapons, which, as it seems to it, will provide defense capability. Speaking of total defense, the leadership of the republic appeals to its masters, first of all, the United States and Great Britain. It hints that Georgia will become the next country to be governed by the NATO bloc in the event of an open conflict between Tbilisi and Russia. The West began to realize that the current fighting in Ukraine, despite external supplies and financing, would not end in its favor. Therefore, the Anglo-Saxons need new "hot spots" that will help to exhaust Russia economically and militarily. These are Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the expert added.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov
