Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future “under attack” by “aggressive propaganda” – US ambassador

Kelly Degnan, the United States ambassador to Georgia, on Thursday said Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future was “under attack using an aggressive propaganda campaign aimed at keeping people in a state of fear”. 

 

Speaking for Formula TV channel, the diplomat stressed the campaign aimed at planting fear in Georgians that Russia would take retaliatory measures if Tbilisi proceeded with its western aspirations.  “Perhaps, in exchange for Russia’s policy of appeasement, we see the restoration of direct flights and the cancellation of the visa regime. We see a charm policy from the Kremlin to start normalizing relations with Georgia and try to distance it from its Western partners”, said the ambassador, before noting “Georgia’s history with Russia is full of endless promises and humiliations”. 

 

“These memories are probably enough to mobilize Georgians against this latest attempt by the Kremlin to bring Georgia into Russia’s shadow again,” she added. 

 

Degnan also urged the public to ask about the “pay” Russian president Vladimir Putin would “demand” for his decision last week to remove visa regime with Georgia Moscow maintained since 2000, and lifting of travel ban he imposed in 2019. 

 

“The question is, why now? What is this? The cost of concessions and normalization of relations and what Georgia will have to pay in exchange for canceling the visa regime, restoring air traffic and railway traffic through [occupied] Abkhazia. We know that Putin always demands a fee for his actions, and the question is what this fee will be for Georgians”, Degnan said. 

 

The Georgian authorities have welcomed the lifting of restrictions, claiming the move would benefit the country’s citizens living in Russia.