TBILISI, Georgia — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed a new security agreement with his Georgian counterpart on Monday, extending the U.S. effort to train allied troops amid encroaching threats from Russia.
The visit to Tbilisi opened Austin’s swing through three Black Sea nations in the run-up to this week’s meeting of defense ministers from NATO countries, their first in-person gathering in Brussels since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020.
Austin characterized his planned stops in Georgia, Ukraine and Romania as an effort to “reassure and recognize” the work each nation has devoted to NATO missions — particularly in Afghanistan. (Georgia and Ukraine are not NATO members but took part in the Afghan mission.) The trip is also an unmistakable response to increased Russian aggression in the region, a subject likely to be discussed extensively in Brussels.
“The United States condemns Russia’s ongoing occupation of Georgia and its attempts to expand influence in the Black Sea region through military coercion and malign activities,” Austin said Monday before a meeting with the Georgian prime minister. “This is an important region, and its security and stability are crucial to fully realizing the vision that we share of a Europe that is whole and free, and at peace.”
Russia shutters its mission to NATO in retaliation for expulsion of its diplomats
Friction between NATO and Moscow has risen sharply in recent months. Russia has conducted low-altitude warning flights over Western vessels in the Black Sea and used its foothold in Crimea — territory it annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — to practice striking sea targets during recent NATO training exercises with the Ukrainian military.
On Monday, Russia said it would close its permanent mission to NATO in Brussels and revoke accreditations for NATO’s delegation in Moscow. Earlier this month, NATO expelled several Russian diplomats, alleging they were spies.
The tit-for-tat coincides with Moscow’s effort to capitalize on the Afghanistan war’s haphazard conclusion and press its claim that the United States is an unreliable ally.
On Monday, Georgian Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze said his country’s relationship with the United States “has never been so strong and multifaceted as it is today.” He added that the country was proud to have its troops serve “shoulder-to-shoulder” with U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was “prepared to share in every corner of the world, if need be.”
Biden backs lasting support for Ukraine as both nations move on from the Trump-era obsession with Kyiv
But there is restlessness in Georgia and Ukraine. Both countries are struggling to reclaim territory seized by Russia or Russian-backed separatists, and they are hopeful their past participation in NATO-led missions will help them become members of the alliance.
The agreement signed Monday is called the Georgia Defense and Deterrence Enhancement Initiative. It is intended to build on a training program begun in 2018. The initiative is focused on improving Georgia’s defense institutions and “fostering interoperability with NATO,” Austin said — but at this time, it does not appear that the United States will contribute significantly more personnel or weapons to support the effort.
The United States expects the partnership will run about six years, according to a senior defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview Austin’s discussions in Tbilisi. While the program is focused primarily on Georgia’s territorial defense, it could evolve to address what officials called a hybrid threat from Russia.
“The occupation is a daily thing,” Burchuladze said, speaking through an interpreter. “We may have seen other methods of occupation recently; next week we may witness a cyberattack. Different methods are being applied against our nation.”
Georgia lost control of about 20 percent of its territory in 2008, after Russian forces helped two breakaway republics — Abkhazia and South Ossetia — declare autonomy. Ukraine had a similar experience in 2014, when Russian-backed separatists in the east of its country launched a war against the government in Kyiv.
The volatility continues to hamper both countries’ ambition to join NATO. Member states commit to one another’s mutual defense, a provision enshrined in NATO’s charter but invoked only once in the alliance’s 72-year history: to launch the war in Afghanistan after the United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
To Russians, Putin got what he wanted from Biden at summit: respect
Georgia and Ukraine also face internal political discord that has made Western powers wary of whether the two countries — which both have seen popular pro-democracy revolutions in this century — are backsliding. Alongside the warm words he offered for Georgia on Monday, Austin also noted that the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi signaled that there had been “some problems” with its election this month, including reports of intimidation and vote-buying.
“But,” Austin added, “we also expressed confidence in Georgia’s ability to improve as time goes forward.”
Romania, the third and final country Austin plans to visit before the meeting of NATO defense ministers, has faced recent political turmoil as well. Its prime minister, Florin Citu, lost a confidence vote this month, turning his minority government into a caretaker until new elections can be held.
Still, according to senior U.S. defense officials, Romania’s inclusion on Austin’s trip is intended to send the message that it has been a model of what good NATO partners look like. Romania joined the alliance in 2004.
Romania and Georgia have not hosted a U.S. defense secretary since 2014. Austin’s trip also marks the first time since 2017 that a defense secretary has visited Ukraine, a country with which the Trump administration had a troubled relationship.
2 comments
Paywalled.
TBILISI, Georgia — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed a new security agreement with his Georgian counterpart on Monday, extending the U.S. effort to train allied troops amid encroaching threats from Russia.
The visit to Tbilisi opened Austin’s swing through three Black Sea nations in the run-up to this week’s meeting of defense ministers from NATO countries, their first in-person gathering in Brussels since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020.
Austin characterized his planned stops in Georgia, Ukraine and Romania as an effort to “reassure and recognize” the work each nation has devoted to NATO missions — particularly in Afghanistan. (Georgia and Ukraine are not NATO members but took part in the Afghan mission.) The trip is also an unmistakable response to increased Russian aggression in the region, a subject likely to be discussed extensively in Brussels.
“The United States condemns Russia’s ongoing occupation of Georgia and its attempts to expand influence in the Black Sea region through military coercion and malign activities,” Austin said Monday before a meeting with the Georgian prime minister. “This is an important region, and its security and stability are crucial to fully realizing the vision that we share of a Europe that is whole and free, and at peace.”
Russia shutters its mission to NATO in retaliation for expulsion of its diplomats
Friction between NATO and Moscow has risen sharply in recent months. Russia has conducted low-altitude warning flights over Western vessels in the Black Sea and used its foothold in Crimea — territory it annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — to practice striking sea targets during recent NATO training exercises with the Ukrainian military.
On Monday, Russia said it would close its permanent mission to NATO in Brussels and revoke accreditations for NATO’s delegation in Moscow. Earlier this month, NATO expelled several Russian diplomats, alleging they were spies.
The tit-for-tat coincides with Moscow’s effort to capitalize on the Afghanistan war’s haphazard conclusion and press its claim that the United States is an unreliable ally.
On Monday, Georgian Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze said his country’s relationship with the United States “has never been so strong and multifaceted as it is today.” He added that the country was proud to have its troops serve “shoulder-to-shoulder” with U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was “prepared to share in every corner of the world, if need be.”
Biden backs lasting support for Ukraine as both nations move on from the Trump-era obsession with Kyiv
But there is restlessness in Georgia and Ukraine. Both countries are struggling to reclaim territory seized by Russia or Russian-backed separatists, and they are hopeful their past participation in NATO-led missions will help them become members of the alliance.
The agreement signed Monday is called the Georgia Defense and Deterrence Enhancement Initiative. It is intended to build on a training program begun in 2018. The initiative is focused on improving Georgia’s defense institutions and “fostering interoperability with NATO,” Austin said — but at this time, it does not appear that the United States will contribute significantly more personnel or weapons to support the effort.
The United States expects the partnership will run about six years, according to a senior defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview Austin’s discussions in Tbilisi. While the program is focused primarily on Georgia’s territorial defense, it could evolve to address what officials called a hybrid threat from Russia.
“The occupation is a daily thing,” Burchuladze said, speaking through an interpreter. “We may have seen other methods of occupation recently; next week we may witness a cyberattack. Different methods are being applied against our nation.”
Georgia lost control of about 20 percent of its territory in 2008, after Russian forces helped two breakaway republics — Abkhazia and South Ossetia — declare autonomy. Ukraine had a similar experience in 2014, when Russian-backed separatists in the east of its country launched a war against the government in Kyiv.
The volatility continues to hamper both countries’ ambition to join NATO. Member states commit to one another’s mutual defense, a provision enshrined in NATO’s charter but invoked only once in the alliance’s 72-year history: to launch the war in Afghanistan after the United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
To Russians, Putin got what he wanted from Biden at summit: respect
Georgia and Ukraine also face internal political discord that has made Western powers wary of whether the two countries — which both have seen popular pro-democracy revolutions in this century — are backsliding. Alongside the warm words he offered for Georgia on Monday, Austin also noted that the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi signaled that there had been “some problems” with its election this month, including reports of intimidation and vote-buying.
“But,” Austin added, “we also expressed confidence in Georgia’s ability to improve as time goes forward.”
Romania, the third and final country Austin plans to visit before the meeting of NATO defense ministers, has faced recent political turmoil as well. Its prime minister, Florin Citu, lost a confidence vote this month, turning his minority government into a caretaker until new elections can be held.
Still, according to senior U.S. defense officials, Romania’s inclusion on Austin’s trip is intended to send the message that it has been a model of what good NATO partners look like. Romania joined the alliance in 2004.
Romania and Georgia have not hosted a U.S. defense secretary since 2014. Austin’s trip also marks the first time since 2017 that a defense secretary has visited Ukraine, a country with which the Trump administration had a troubled relationship.