The Chief of the United States Air Force Joint Staff, General Charles Brown, has stated that the US is concerned and closely monitoring Russia‘s influence in Georgia.
During a briefing, when asked whether NATO could do anything to help Georgia resist Russia’s attempts to strengthen its influence, how this affects current events in Georgia, and its path to NATO, Charles Brown said:
“We are deeply concerned and will remain true to Georgia’s sovereignty while monitoring Russia’s influence in the country. As you know, last week I met with my NATO counterparts; we consistently discuss how to work together on the sovereignty of partner countries and the overall security situation in Europe.”
On May 20th, POLITICO reported that a bill will be introduced in the US Congress, proposing the freezing of assets and visa bans for those representatives of the Georgian government who supported the law on “foreign agents” modeled after Russia.
On the same day, POLITICO wrote about another bill called the “Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act” (MEGOBARI Act, where “megobari” translates from Georgian as “friend”).
According to this bill, if the Georgian government abandons its anti-democratic course, the US will consider providing Georgia with economic and military support, as well as visa liberalization.
The program will be activated only if the US confirms that “Georgia has demonstrated significant and sustainable progress in revitalizing its democracy, evidenced by, at least, substantially free and fair elections and a balanced pre-election environment.”
