Georgia will remain on US radar despite government’s hopes, UNM’s Tsiskarishvili

Petre Tsiskarishvili, secretary general of the United National Movement (UNM), has said the country will remain a focus of US policy, despite what he described as the ruling party’s hopes of pushing it off Washington’s agenda.

The opposition leader said the ruling Georgian Dream party “will not succeed in making Georgia disappear from America’s radar” and insisted the country would become “a model of success, progress and European integration for the entire region.”

He accused the government of counting on the current US administration becoming inward-looking and disengaged from global affairs, giving it “a free hand to befriend and partner with its favourite states such as Iran, Russia, Belarus and China.”

“This will not happen,” Tsiskarishvili said, adding that the United States remained determined to play “an even greater role” in regional politics, particularly in the South Caucasus and the Black Sea area.

“Georgia will no longer be seen as a cautionary tale - as our friends and partners in Eastern Europe have sometimes described it, saying that what Putin could not achieve with military force he managed with ballot papers and the hands of the Georgian people. Instead, Georgia will be an example of success, progress, development and accession to the European family for the whole region,” he said.

According to the UNM press office, the party’s leaders are continuing meetings in the United States Senate. Discussions with senators have reportedly focused on Georgia-US partnership, alleged links between the GD government and the Kremlin, China and Iran, as well as the issue of “political prisoners.”