Parliament official: MP claims on Georgia’s non-participation in NATO drills “anti-state, misinforming and shameful”
NATO is currently holding the ORION multinational exercises in France, involving 12,000 French servicemembers and their 1,700 counterparts from Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Irakli Beraia, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Defence and Security Committee, on Tuesday called “anti-state, misinforming and shameful” the claim by Teona Akubardia, an MP from the opposition Lelo party, who earlier during the day said the Georgian Defence Forces’ non-involvement in NATO exercises was a “gift to the Kremlin and damaging to our defence capabilities”.
Beraia criticised the MP’s claim the GDF’s absence from the alliance’s drills demonstrated the Government’s “priorities”, and said the Georgian authorities’ “political and practical” cooperation with NATO was “deepening and strengthening day by day”.
The multinational exercise Defender 23 began on April 22 and is scheduled to continue until June 23. Over 7,800 US service members and 15,000 troops from more than 20 Allied and partner nations are participating in the exercise.
NATO integration is our top foreign and security policy priority. In parallel to the increased threats in the region and Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, Georgia not only maintained the quality of practical cooperation with NATO, but this direction became even more intense”, the Parliament official said.
He added the intensified links were “confirmed by the further expansion of practical membership instruments by NATO and the unprecedented support steps taken within the framework of this expansion”.
Beraia also highlighted the Noble Partner multinational drills, hosted in Georgia last year with over 2,400 servicemembers from NATO member and partner states.
While “hundreds of drills” have been held between GDF and their counterparts from partner states, it may not be possible to participate in all manoeuvres considering the “colossal costs”, he added.
The statements that are made and aim to prove the opposite are anti-state. Such statements, and the presence of irresponsible persons in the Georgian political space, are a gift to the enemy of our country”, Beraia concluded.
Julianne Smith, the United States Ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, hailed Georgia’s “excellent and very close” relationship with the alliance and highlighted the country as NATO’s one of the “closest partners”, in an interview with Imedi TV on Friday.
Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, on Tuesday described Georgia as “one of closest partners” of the alliance and pledged “continued political and practical support” for the country.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday expressed his Government’s “readiness” to further deepen political dialogue and practical cooperation with NATO "in all dimensions".
This year’s Noble Partner multinational defence drills officially opened at the 4th Infantry Brigade training grounds in Vaziani near Tbilisi on Monday, with over 2,400 servicemembers from 21 countries involved in the manoeuvres.
The Georgian Defence Ministry on Tuesday issued a statement regarding the question of participation of the country’s Defence Forces in the multinational exercise Defender 2023 and said the “biassed” information spread by some media outlets and individuals was “another provocation” towards the Ministry.
The United States Embassy in Georgia on Wednesday issued a statement on military cooperation between the two states in 2023 and stressed US-Georgia continued “to do more across a broad range of cooperative military activities”.
Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze on Friday rejected the criticism by the domestic opposition about the absence of the Georgian Defence Forces from an ongoing NATO exercise by highlighting the “record number” of six international manoeuvres involving the GDF in 2022 and about 20 set to feature troops from the country this year.