Ruling party Sec-Gen dismisses media reports on Tbilisi’s rejection of US military base in 2021

Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday rejected reports by the domestic opposition-minded Mtavari Channel that in 2021 Tbilisi rejected the US offer on the building of a military base in the country with 1,800 personnel. 

 

In his press comments, Kaladze claimed “no such offer” had been made, adding the “only thing” that could protect Georgia from potential Russian aggression was the “long-wished” NATO membership. 

 

“We have been hearing for years that the [NATO] door is open, the door is open, we don’t want this open door. If you are [capable of anything], make a decision, accept our country in the alliance”, Kaladze said. 

 

The channel claimed a few months before the start of the war in Ukraine, in October 2021, the US Minister of Defense Lloyd Austin came to Georgia with an “unprecedented offer” about the military base, which the Georgian Dream “rejected” and “made the country lose the historic opportunity”.