Helsinki Commission urges US President to designate Georgia, Ukraine as Major Non-NATO Allies
The Commission urged the presidential administration to reinforce the United States support for both Georgia and Ukraine. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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The Helsinki Commission, a US government agency monitoring security in Europe, has called on President Joe Biden to designate Georgia and Ukraine as Major Non-NATO Allies (MNNAs), American global affairs publication Foreign Policy reported on Saturday.
In a letter to Biden, the Commission urged the presidential administration to reinforce the United States support for both Georgia and Ukraine, citing the Russian occupation of the countries as “the tragedy of long-stalled Euro-Atlantic enlargement.”
Absent strong and proactive U.S. backing for Ukrainian and Georgian NATO membership, [Russian President] Putin will continue to take ample advantage in his aspirations to upend security and cooperation in Europe and his neocolonial agenda,” they wrote.
The Commission has also suggested considering the MNNA status for Moldova, Sweden and Finland.
The US defines the MNNA status as providing its foreign partners with benefits in defence and security cooperation.
I hope that NATO countries will soon make a political decision on Georgia's membership in the alliance, Nikoloz Samkharadze, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) MP who chairs the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Wednesday during the meeting with Alexander Vinnikov, the new head of the NATO Liaison Office in Georgia.
The situation created by the armed conflict taking place in Ukraine, the ongoing occupation of Georgian regions, and release of Georgian citizens illegally arrested by occupation forces were discussed on Tuesday in a meeting between Grigol Liluashvili, the Head of the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia, and Toivo Klaar, the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.
A United States Senator on Tuesday asked the Undersecretary of State about plans to help Georgia and Moldova in case the Russian Government decides to “cross the borders” into the countries on the back of its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a "continuation of the pattern" used by the Kremlin in Georgia in 2008, Ambassador Kakha Imnadze, the Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations, said on Tuesday in a UN Security Council address.
It was a mistake by NATO not to grant Ukraine and Georgia their Membership Action Plans (MAP) back in 2008, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Secretary-General of the alliance, said in an interview with the Georgian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Monday.
The Georgian Government has been doing “everything” to support Ukraine that can be done by a country that has parts of its territory occupied, President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili said in an interview released by Euronews on Wednesday.
The European Union stands ready to step up its cooperation with Georgia to strengthen the country’s resilience, Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on Tuesday in a phone conversation with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili.