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Russian Foreign Ministry believes Georgia’s EU, NATO aspirations unjustified

Georgia has been cooperating with NATO since late 1990s

TBILISI, March 25. /TASS/. Georgia’s aspirations to become a member of NATO and the European Union are an unjustified choice that should not be accomplished, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said.

"NATO and Europe aspirations are, in our opinion, an unjustified choice that should not be accomplished. Georgian politicians must decide what they want by themselves: do they want to live in a stable and predictable situation or to constantly face suspicions, further aggravated by Georgia’s NATO membership," he said in a conversation with Georgian Public Broadcasting’s First Channel as part of the 52nd round of the Geneva Discussions on Security and Stability in the Southern Caucasus.

The 52nd round of the Geneva Discussions, which remain the only platform for dialogue between Georgia and its former republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, began on Thursday and will continue through March 26. International discussions have been held in Geneva since 2008, with the participation of Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the United States. The talks are mediated by envoys of the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The work is traditionally carried out in two working groups - on security and on humanitarian issues.

Executive Secretary and Political Council Member of the ruling party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia" Irakli Kobakhidze said in October 2020 that the country would apply for full-fledged EU membership in 2024. It was his party’s main electoral promise.

Georgia has been cooperating with NATO since late 1990s. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze (1928-2014) expressed the country’s aspiration to join the alliance at a summit in Prague in November 2002. This intention was later confirmed by his successor Mikheil Saakashvili.

The new Georgian government, which ascended to power after the Georgian Dream coalition won in October 2012, continued the policy aimed at joining NATO, while at the same time branding "gradual normalization of ties with Russia as a goal of utmost importance without compromising Georgia’s territorial integrity." Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg visited Tbilisi in 2015 and 2016, when he assured the Georgian leadership that Georgia would become a NATO member, while conceding that he could not lay out a precise timetable of admitting the country.

Since 2009, Georgia has been a member of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program, aimed at developing regional cooperation with former republics of the Soviet Union. In 2014, Georgia signed an Association Agreement with the European Union. In 2017, Georgian citizens were granted visa-free travel to countries of the Schengen Area.

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