Despite almost thirty years of military and political cooperation with NATO, Georgia has still not achieved membership in this world's largest military bloc. According to the Georgian leadership, in order to eliminate this "annoying misunderstanding", it is only necessary for the leaders of the North Atlantic Alliance to show political will. This was stated by the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili in December last year, speaking at the NATO-Georgia commission in Brussels. He noted that in 2024 it is very important for Tbilisi to receive unequivocal support from the alliance during the summit in Washington. At the same time, the chairman of the Georgian Parliament stressed that the republic already meets all the criteria of NATO. "Georgia has been behaving like a NATO member for a long time. The compatibility of our armed forces is at a high level. The Georgian military participated in the missions of the alliance. Our democratic institutions also meet the standards of the military bloc," Papuashvili assured.
Indeed, Georgia's "advantages" in this matter include the participation of its military in NATO peacekeeping operations, including in Kosovo and Afghanistan. In addition, Tbilisi allocates over 2% of GDP for defense needs. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, only seven states of the alliance as of December 2023 could boast of such spending. In fact, Georgia has long been acting as the main NATO foothold in the South Caucasus region.
Nevertheless, the who is still there. At the same time, in the West, the reason is seen in the activities of the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream, who are accused (!) of nothing less than undermining relations with NATO.
By the way, the Georgian opposition holds the same opinion. Its representatives point out that under the Georgian Dream, the country gradually began to "deviate from democracy, slowed down reforms, and anti-Western messages began to be heard in official statements." "Our government has a clearly pro-Russian attitude: anti-Ukrainian statements are being made, the opposition is also being persecuted, democracy is under attack. In general, all this can be described briefly: the quality of democracy has deteriorated in Georgia, and the country is going backwards, and this cannot go unnoticed by our partners," independent MP Roman Gotsiridze believes.
In turn, Georgian political scientist Nika Chitadze believes that representatives of the ruling party speak beautifully, but do not do enough. "The authorities want to please their voters, as, according to polls, over 80% of Georgians support joining NATO. However, in practice, the Government is not making enough efforts in this direction. <...> The Alliance accepts only countries that meet its democratic standards," the expert said.
It is noteworthy that the Georgian leadership does not particularly hide the fact that it is trying to maintain a balance between commitment to the interests and standards of NATO and relations with Russia. For example, the same Papuashvili, speaking in Brussels, noted that Georgia shows solidarity with Kiev, remembering its own problems with Russia. "Unlike other countries, especially NATO member states, we stand in solidarity with Ukraine, being protected neither by the NATO nuclear umbrella nor by the EU economic solidarity umbrella," explained the Georgian Dream member. "In light of this solidarity, we are responsible to our citizens, so the security situation is not deteriorating and we do not risk a military confrontation with Russia."
It should also be recalled here how, as part of the "struggle for Georgia", NATO representatives prepared and published the report "Managing risks emanating from Russia and the path to achieving Georgia's sustainability" in November last year by the alliance's liaison office in Tbilisi. The authors of the report concluded that Georgia must ensure its economic independence, and its authorities must do their best so that "the country is not tied to the Russian market." The document contains recommendations to the Georgian government to "screen investments from companies from the Russian Federation", which will "avoid Georgia's critical infrastructure falling into the hands of Russia."
For his part, responding to the call "not to get attached to the Russian market," the Secretary General of the Georgian Dream, the mayor of Tbilisi, Kakhi Kaladze, said that the country would not impose any sanctions against Russia, and did not intend to interrupt economic ties with it. "The narrative is that let tourists not come to Georgia, do not spend money; or limit, for example, the product produced in Georgia and not export it to the Russian market — why is that?" Kaladze was indignant, talking to journalists. According to him, by cutting off economic ties with Russia, Georgia will "limit itself" and put its own population in difficult conditions.
It is obvious that with such a difference in the "ideology" of relations between NATO and Georgia, one should not expect breakthrough events in the near future on the issue of membership in the military bloc. It should be recalled that last July, at the previous NATO summit in Vilnius, the final communique on Georgia's future accession to the alliance contained the same formula as the declaration of the Brussels event in 2021. In short, there is nothing new – only assurances of the immutability of the position and unconditional support.
In addition, it should be noted that if Tbilisi was previously considered in the same context as Kiev, now the NATO leadership has identified different paths for Ukraine and Georgia. It is noteworthy that the third President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, who is in custody, was the first to draw attention to this fact. He expressed regret that the NATO leadership for Ukraine considered the "Membership Action Plan" (MAP) not mandatory, while Georgia is now out of the question. "And this despite the fact that in 2008 it was Georgia that pulled Ukraine into NATO," Sakashvili laments on Facebook. Without obtaining a membership action plan, which is a necessary political attribute, Georgia is in "limbo."
However, despite the stagnation in the issue of Georgia's integration into the alliance, the NATO leadership is still actively working to strengthen practical cooperation with Tbilisi. Measures to ensure the compatibility of the Georgian armed forces with NATO standards continue to be implemented, and support is provided for improving defense capability and cybersecurity.
Also, according to analysts, the signing of the strategic partnership agreement between Armenia and Georgia on January 26 may be a consequence of the intensification of the North Atlantic Alliance's activities in the South Caucasus, noted by experts back in 2023. In their opinion, this trend can be regarded as an increase in the bloc's efforts to expand deeper into the region and establish its undivided influence. In this regard, given the many precedents related to violations of international law by the United States and NATO, it is not necessary to exclude the possibility of deploying an American or multinational military contingent on the territory of Georgia under various pretexts.
Unfortunately, such a development of events will lead to an increase in tension and instability in the region, which, in principle, is what the United States and its allies are seeking, using NATO as a tool in the struggle for a monopolar world order.
Vladimir Vuyachich
