TBILISI, October 15. /TASS/. The British authorities have decided to freeze the 2024 UK-Georgia Wardrop Strategic Dialogue and cancel talks between the defense chiefs due to the activities of the Georgian authorities, UK Ambassador Gareth Ward said.

"For these reasons (the actions of the Georgian authorities - TASS), for the first time in ten years, we, the British side, have decided to freeze the annual high-level Wardrop Dialogue between ministers. This is the first time since the dialogue format was established. We also canceled planned high-level talks between the defense chiefs and put a new cyber security program on hold," he told Interpressnews in an interview.

According to the diplomat, "relations between Great Britain and Georgia, as well as with other Western partners, have been damaged by the steps taken by the Georgian government this year." He pointed out that the UK was shocked that the Georgian parliament had passed the foreign agents law despite protests. The British side has also been disappointed by the "conspiracy theories" of the ruling Georgian Dream party and was shocked to hear that its upcoming election program promised to ban all opposition parties.

At the same time, the ambassador said that after the election, "regardless of who is in government, we hope to see clear evidence of a return to the Euro-Atlantic path to rebuild trust and return to a close partnership."

The UK-Georgia Wardrop Strategic Dialogue was established in 2014. The meetings at the level of ministers took place every year and have been the main platform for developing bilateral ties.