US Intelligence Chief: Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic Course at Risk
The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, testified to congress Tuesday, offering the annual “Worldwide Thread Assessment” prepared by the U.S. intelligence community.
In a section concerning the Caucasus and Central Asia, the document states that Georgia may be rethinking its Euro-Atlantic orientation, in part due to Russian efforts.
According to the document, even as Georgia progresses with reforms, Georgian politics will almost certainly be volatile as political competition increases. “Economic challenges are also likely to become a key political vulnerability for the government before the 2016 elections. Rising frustration among Georgia’s elites and the public with the slow pace of Western integration and increasingly effective Russian propaganda raise the prospect that Tbilisi might slow or suspend efforts toward greater Euro-Atlantic integration.” the Intelligence Chief declared.
The Threat Assessment underlined that tensions with Russia will remain high, and assessed that Moscow will raise the pressure on Tbilisi to abandon closer EU and NATO ties.
In the same report last year, the agency also assessed that Moscow would press Tbilisi to abandon closer EU and NATO ties, leaving unanswered the probability for this actually happening.
Zviad Adzinbaia