Russia Carefully Observing Georgia’s Military Progression

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview this week that Moscow is following Georgia’s militarization and making necessary security adjustments to breakaway regions. 

“We are carefully observing the process of [Georgia’s militarization by western nations] and are adjusting the security assistance to Abkhazia and South Ossetia accordingly,” he said. 

He added that it is not Tbilisi they are afraid of, but their allies in the West. 

“We are not afraid of Tbilisi, but we are seriously concerned about the actions of its Western allies,” Karasin said, adding that the Western nations had “completely forgotten what Georgia’s militarization had once brought about.” 

The Deputy Foreign Minister then commented on the recently approved anti-armor and anti-air systems sales to Tbilisi, as well as the new U.S-funded Georgia Defense Readiness program, emphasizing that “less than ten years after the barbarian attack on South Ossetia, [there was] a full-speed development of NATO military infrastructure in Georgia.” 

Karasin added that despite Georgia’s verbal agreements to not use force against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the country has continued to avoid signing the agreements to affirm this. 

“[There are] no guarantees that in western-equipped Georgia, the militarist attitudes to its former territories [would not prevail again],” he said. 

Karasin concluded by saying “we will, naturally, not leave our allies in the face of a possible aggression, but considering the presence of NATO in Georgia, in such scenario a very dangerous situation can develop for international stability.”

By Tom Day