United States Permanent Ambassador to the North Atlantic Alliance Kay Hutchinson claims that Georgia has still not received NATO membership due to interference from Russia.
She made a corresponding statement during the visit of the North Atlantic Council to Batumi.
“Russia seeks to deprive Georgia of the freedom that its people deserve. Naturally, Moscow is trying to prevent Georgia’s plans to follow the freedoms and reforms necessary for the country to join the North Atlantic Alliance”, – Hutchinson says.
At the same time, she criticized Georgia, noting the low level of democracy, the rule of law and freedom of the press. Against this background, the diplomat put forward a number of conditions to Georgian Prime Minister Georgy Gaharia, assuring that the United States was “next to Georgia”.
In addition, as a result of the meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission, the parties issued a joint statement, demonstrably praising the “unique scale and depth” of US-Georgian relations. Contrary to Hutchinson’s words, the communiqué emphasizes that “the allies welcome the progress made by Georgia over the past ten years in consolidating democracy.” And this supposedly already provides an opportunity for updating the Essential NATO-Georgia package.
The statement also did not do without an anti-Russian demarche. Moscow is urged to refuse recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
It is noteworthy that, despite the ostentatious activity, the West once again escaped with formal statements that have been heard for many years. The Georgian expert community has already criticized the meaningless rhetoric of NATO, comparing the situation with Northern Macedonia, which urgently received the right to membership in the alliance, while Georgia has been “treated” for ten years.