US Ambassador: Georgia has right to choose its partners
The United States supports the choice of the Euro-Atlantic path of the Georgian people and remains committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia, US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan stated while speaking at the security conference of the Rondeli Foundation.
“Our principle is that countries have the sovereign right to choose their political or economic partners. We will not change this fundamental principle and will not question it”, said Kelly Degnan.
According to the ambassador, the United States sees that the vast majority of the population of Georgia is in favor of European and Euro-Atlantic integration. According to her, this is the choice of Georgians, which many support:
“We support Georgia, Ukraine and the Europeans as Russia seeks to undermine European security. It is important to say, from Georgia, that strength is in unity.”
Ambassador Degnan also reaffirmed the US position on Russia:
“I repeat, in the negotiations with Russia, the head of our delegation, Wendy Sherman, and many US officials said: we will not negotiate on Europe without Europe, on NATO without NATO, on Ukraine without Ukraine and on Georgia without Georgia. This is very important because Russia is trying to divide the alliance, to divide Europeans and Americans. We have seen that there is strength in unity”, note
On January 10, U.S.-Russian security talks were held in Geneva. For the first time, Russian and American diplomats discussed the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s demand for NATO to “leave Eastern Europe” in person.
According to the general opinion of experts, no significant breakthrough was achieved in the negotiations. However, the fact that the parties have openly communicated their demands to each other gives hope for the continuation of negotiations, although the differences between the parties remain very serious.
Another meeting took place on January 11, and, upon its completion, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said that Washington “will not allow anyone to change NATO’s open door policy”.
