Georgian Defense Minister Levan Izoria said that in the coming days, Tbilisi will sign a three-year military agreement with Washington. He made such a statement on August 17 after negotiations with the new US military attaché in Georgia, Colonel Stephanie Begley.

“In a few days we will have the opportunity to sign a three-year cooperation agreement. In subsequent years, with Colonel Stephanie Begley and her team, we in Georgia will continue to fundamentally continue the successful policy pursued by the United States together with the defense department, which primarily serves to strengthen our defensive capabilities, ”Izoria said at the end of the meeting.

However, the minister did not specify what paragraphs the agreement contains.

According to political analyst Alexander Asafov, the fact that the details of the agreement were not disclosed suggests that it does not contain anything landmark. We can talk about limited supplies of weapons, the expert said.

“Such agreements, if their contents are not voiced, do not contain anything that could be boasted. If it was a question of any direct military assistance, strategic defense and offensive systems, military supplies, construction of infrastructure or financing of exercises, this would be announced publicly. As soon as this was not done, most likely, we are talking about the supply of arms according to NATO standards, possibly small arms. Of course, all this is on a reimbursable basis, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

In turn, an expert at the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation Vladimir Prokhvatilov believes that the agreement may imply the creation of bases like Cooperative Security Location in Georgia, on the territory of which the military contingent is not permanently located or its number is extremely small. However, equipment is stored at these bases, which will allow, if necessary, to quickly deploy US military units there.

“The Pentagon has long been located in Georgia. I do not exclude that we can talk about some kind of compact military base, which is called the lily pad, or in Russian - “water lilies”. They have a minimal number of personnel, and they are intended for the operational deployment of a more serious contingent in the event of a military conflict, ”the analyst said in an interview with RT.

At the same time, Prokhvatilov believes that there is no question of the supply of serious weapons.

“The Georgian military showed themselves very poorly, their fighting efficiency is extremely low. There can be no talk of any serious local military conflict. Perhaps they will be supplied with small arms. If Georgians are entrusted with more serious weapons, they can quickly end up in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, ”the analyst explained.

Close relations

After the collapse of the USSR, the USA began to actively develop cooperation with Georgia. At first, this concerned only politics and the economy, but in the late 1990s, the turn came to the military sphere.

The basis for cooperation between the two countries in this area was the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Defense, in force since March 2003.

It spells out the conditions according to which, in particular, representatives of the US defense department can freely move through Georgian territory, cross the border, and engage in transportation of military equipment. Legally, Pentagon employees are protected by diplomatic immunity in Georgia.

In 2009, the two countries took a new step in the development of military cooperation by signing the Charter on Strategic Partnership. At the same time, priority was given to speeding up the country's accession to NATO, expanding military cooperation, increasing Georgia’s defense capabilities and supporting its territorial integrity.

At the moment, American advisers are working in the Georgian law enforcement agencies, and US military instructors are training Georgian armed forces. It is also common practice in which the Georgian military are sent to the United States to study in specialized educational institutions.

Tbilisi is actively purchasing American military equipment, however, it is often a question of outdated models that are being withdrawn from service in the United States. So, in the 2000s, Georgia received at its disposal multifunctional helicopters UH-1H Iroquois, which before that were already in operation. In 2016, the Americans provided their Georgian partners with two patrol boats launched in the late 1980s and early 1990s: WPB 1340 Jefferson Island and WPB 1345 Staten Island.

  • US military takes part in Noble Partner 2018 international exercises at training center in Vaziani
  • Reuters
  • © David Mdzinarishvili

In the same 2018, Tbilisi purchased Javelin anti-tank systems from the United States, and the country's defense minister said that the Georgian army could have the American Stinger anti-aircraft missile system at its disposal.

In parallel, Georgia is actively developing cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance. Back in 1992, the republic joined the Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Council (renamed the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 1997), and two years later it joined the NATO Partnership for Peace program, which was created to establish cooperation between the alliance and non-members him by states.

The process of rapprochement between Georgia and NATO accelerated during the reign of President Mikheil Saakashvili, who came to power in 2004 after the so-called Rose Revolution. Under him, Tbilisi agreed with the alliance on an Individual Partnership Plan with NATO, and the country began to take part in the alliance’s operations within the framework of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

In 2015, a joint NATO training and assessment center, Georgia, was opened in the suburbs of Tbilisi, on the basis of which the Noble Partner command and staff exercises are held annually. A similar facility is located in Sachkhere, and in 2018, the parties agreed to create a large NATO military logistics center on the basis of the Vaziani airfield.

According to Alexander Asafov, cooperation with countries such as Georgia, the United States is necessary, among other things, in order to sell their weapons.

“Through partnerships with similar countries, Washington is expanding its arms sales market. Including using obsolete designs that are no longer used in the United States and other advanced NATO countries. Therefore, for example, relatively new members of the alliance, such as Poland or the Baltic states, receive contracts for old weapons. Probably, Georgia will get something very old, so they do not say what it is. But it is possible that it will be some kind of non-military infrastructure, ”the expert suggested.

In turn, Vladimir Prokhvatilov notes that Georgia’s military policy is not determined in Tbilisi.

“Everything that Georgia does in the military sphere is decided in Washington. The United States is now seeking to strengthen its military presence, even beyond NATO. Because the European Union and NATO countries are becoming less reliable from the point of view of Washington, their interests diverge, ”the analyst explained.

Georgian bridgehead

Interviewed by RT experts agreed that the deepening of military cooperation between the United States and Georgia is directed mainly against Russia.

So, according to Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at the Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, for Georgia, Georgia is primarily a springboard for its strategy in the Russian direction.

“Of course, in Russia they understand that Georgia cannot pose a threat with its potential either in the economy or in the military field. But for the USA this country is interesting as an instrument and a kind of springboard, ”he said in an interview with RT.

  • Georgian Defense Minister Levan Izoria and German Admiral Manfred Nilson
  • Reuters
  • © Irakli Gedenidze

In turn, Alexander Asafov, while not denying the low military potential of Tbilisi, pointed out that the very fact of NATO and US activity near Russian borders cannot but alarm.

“The existence of NATO and its presence near our borders are of an obvious anti-Russian character. Therefore, of course, we should worry, and our top military-political leadership is aware of this and periodically speaks out on this subject. Nevertheless, with regard to Georgia itself, such agreements with the USA for it are only consolidation of loyalty. This will not affect real defense capability, ”the expert concluded.