Appathurai: Georgia's Contribution in Afghanistan Not a Threat to Any Country

“It’s very hard for me to understand how is it possible that a very big country like Russia could see a military threat coming from Georgia. It is quite hard to imagine,” commented James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, in a special interview with a Georgian Public Broadcaster, yesterday.

He says he does not understand why Russian military and political experts perceive the mutual steps of Georgia and NATO as a danger. “NATO’s limited personnel, who will be present in Georgia will work on raising interoperability” – Appathurai emphasized.

“Why would your contribution in Afghanistan be assessed as a threat to any country? I think Russia does not like this signal, [they] do not like that Georgia remains loyal and keeps it course towards the west” he assumed. According to him, Russia is not satisfied with the fact that NATO as well as the EU welcome the path Georgia has opted for, support it and will provide further assistance to pursue the choice the sovereign country has made.

“We want to support the choice backed through a democratic way. The very reason that Russia has to like the choice Georgia has made. We can explain to them that NATO representation in Georgia holds no threat for Russia in security or military terms,” Appathurai explained adding, “We will try our best to explain this to them, however, I am not sure they will understand.”