Support for Georgia’s accession to NATO and the European Union is weakening, and Washington needed to shift responsibility to someone.
This was told by a former assistant to the US Secretary of State and the head of the board of directors of the American non-governmental organization “Free Russia Foundation” David Kramer in an interview with the Ukrainian publication “UNIAN”.
According to him, the problem is that Georgia, like Ukraine, back in 2008 at the NATO summit in Bucharest promised membership in the alliance. At the same time, no one specified when exactly the countries will become part of the Western military bloc, and after 12 years no progress has been observed. Kramer emphasizes that the Western elites themselves are responsible for this, but they do not want to admit it.
“In Georgia, which among the countries of the region was the closest to the United States, support for the idea of joining the European Union and NATO is falling, the country is eyeing the prospect of rapprochement with Russia”, – the diplomat explains.
“Because of this a campaign has been launched in the States to introduce Ivanishvili as Putin’s ally. Perhaps they overdid it”.
It is connected with this that American lawmakers began to talk about the Russian past Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the ruling party in Georgia, which is considered the “godfather” of the country, due to its influence.
“Mr. Ivanishvili should understand that the future of Georgia is in the West. This must be understood by the West itself. We all need to work much better to deepen relations between Georgia and the West so that Georgia does not have thoughts that the only option is rapprochement with Moscow”, – Kramer says.
He also noted that pressure on Ivanishvili could be related to the lobbying campaign in Washington. As News Front previously reported, Republican Congressman Markuane Mullin accused Ivanishvili of trying to expel American business from Georgia. The legislator even demanded sanctions against Ivanishvili in this regard.
According to Kramer, American companies could turn to lobbying firms that are now promoting their Georgian interests in Washington.
“You are hiring a lobbying firm, which, unfortunately, abounds. You pay them to raise your questions on Capitol Hill, a position was heard to convince congressmen to make statements, promote bills”, – he explains.
Recall that in June, as part of the campaign against the leader of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, a group of American congressmen demanded that the White House impose sanctions against the Tbilisi politician, calling him a “close ally” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The appeal was set out in the report “Strengthening America and Countering Global Threats”, developed by the Republican Research Committee.