“I think it is very important to remember that the biggest threat to Georgia is Russia” – the statement comes from the US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, who was part of the Tbilisi International Conference 2022: “[The main threat] to Georgia’s security, its stability, truly its prosperity as well as its democracy is Russia and it has been for centuries. This isn’t new for Georgians – this is just the latest version of it”.
According to the Ambassador, Russia uses very effectively the long shadow of itself back in many Georgian minds to create confusion, to sow division, to instill fear in people. “They are masters at that. They’ve been doing that for long time” – Kelly Degnan said, at the same time, stressing the 30 years of efforts of the United States to help Georgia improve its ability to deter and defend its own borders.
“Tomorrow I am going up to the mountains to watch a real life exercise that involves emergency response capabilities that are part of the comprehensive defense approach that Georgia is developing with support from the United States and other NATO partners, because it is the modernization of Georgia’s defense forces to be able to operate in through a comprehensive defensive approach. It furthers interoperability with NATO which is something that Georgia has been excelling at, because of its contributions in Afghanistan, Iraq with NATO and bilaterally with NATO allies” – The Ambassador said, adding that on Friday a distinguished visitors day will wrap up the Noble Partner - the large military operation that’s done every other year to see Georgia’s improvement in being able to host a huge multinational exercise: “It is not the United States and Georgia doing this, it is Georgia organizing a multinational large scale exercise that really does test what we have seen in Ukraine to be essential military skills to defend the country and to work together as a really effective force”.
The Ambassador firmly believes that a strong defense force is the best deterrent to making Georgia once again a target of Russian aggression.
“We are absolutely working very hard to keep Georgia of any kind of conflict, whether it’s this Ukraine conflict or any other – Kelly Degnan stressed - by giving them the skills to be able to push back, defend their borders. A country like Georgia in this location, in this size, needs a whole of society response to the kind of threat that Russia presents”.
According to the Ambassador, the military cooperation is obviously long been the core of the US-Georgia partnership because the US understands that for Georgians the first thing on their mind is the stability and security for their country. “That confidence that they [Georgians] can defend their borders is at the heart of it and we want to be with them in developing that capability” – the Ambassador said.
https://bm.ge/en/article/george-w-bushs-message-to-georgia/115918/
https://bm.ge/en/article/thats-going-to-be-a-tough-nut-to-crack-ed-chow-on-oil-shock-economic-sanctions-and-more/115937/
