Georgian PM says US, EU decision to freeze defence financial support for country “regrettable”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday said decisions of the United States and the European Union to freeze defence financial support for the country were “regrettable” and did not meet his Government’s “expectations for a restart” of relations.

The comment came after Paweł Herczyński, the EU Ambassador to Georgia, on Tuesday announced the bloc had frozen the financial support of €30 million in support for the country from the European Peace Facility in response to the Government’s adoption of a law on transparency of foreign influence, while Matthew Miller, the Spokesperson for the US Department of State, said there would be “consequences” for Georgia’s “democratic backsliding” following the adoption of the law.

Last week, the US Department of Defence also “indefinitely” postponed this year’s Noble Partner multinational military exercise in Georgia, originally scheduled to run from July 25 to August 6.

The Georgian PM said the decisions were “counterproductive in terms of restarting relations”, but added his Government was “ready for upcoming steps in the direction of resetting relations”.

“In light of the political events of the past four years, these relations really need to be restarted [...] The Georgian side, our Government, our state is ready from the beginning to the end, and we are waiting for the next steps”, he said.

Kobakhidze said he hoped “pragmatic, rational, correct, fair steps” would be taken by partners towards Georgia to “contribute to restarting relations”.