NATO Sec-Gen: ministers’ meeting discussed need to support at-risk partners like Georgia
The NATO leader pointed to “the Kremlin’s ambition [...] to recreate a sphere of influence and deny other countries the right to choose their own path” in comments about the ministers’ convention. Photo: Reuters
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A meeting between foreign ministers of NATO on Friday discussed the alliance’s need to support partners like Georgia who face risks due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a briefing in Brussels.
The NATO leader pointed to “the Kremlin’s ambition [...] to recreate a sphere of influence and deny other countries the right to choose their own path” in comments about the ministers’ convention.
Discussion at the Brussels meeting reviewed circumstances faced by countries including Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, the Secretary General told the press.
Before the meeting, Bogdan Aurescu, Romania's Foreign Minister, said he would ask his counterparts for more support for partner states, “especially the Republic of Moldova and Georgia”, at the gathering.
Georgia finds itself in an “extraordinary situation” due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Friday, with the official highlighting the relevance of the conflict to questions of Georgia’s security.
Bogdan Aurescu, Romania's Foreign Minister, said he will ask his counterparts for more support for partner states, “especially the Republic of Moldova and Georgia”, as the official arrived at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday.
The ongoing Russian military aggression in Ukraine, and the security situation in the Black Sea region, were discussed by Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani and Michael McCaul, the Co-Chair of the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken extended his gratitude to Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili for the support the Georgian government has provided to Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion of the country, as the two officials spoke on Thursday.
Collective discrimination against people on ethnic grounds is “completely and categorically unacceptable”,Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said at a briefing on Friday, adding that punishment of Russian citizens due to actions of their government in Ukraine would be an “unheard-of phenomenon in the civilized world”.
Russia's actions in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, as well as the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripals in Salisbury were warnings to the West, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an opinion piece published by The New York Times on Sunday.
Human rights violations in the Russian-occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) have been highlighted in the annual Report on Human Rights Practices of the United States Department of State, with the report released on Tuesday.