DISINFO: NATO is not interested in strengthening Georgia
SUMMARY
The president, prime minister, defence minister, and others have been deceiving the public when they state that NATO empowers Georgia. NATO does not strengthen Georgia stronger; NATO just prepares the country for its own tasks.
RESPONSE
This claim is part of a larger campaign aimed at influencing public support towards Georgia's NATO aspirations and portray neutrality as the most rational foreign policy choice for Georgia. See here for other examples of disinformation targeting NATO-Georgia relations. In April 2019, NATO approved the "Black Sea package". The framework of the package envisages training of Georgia’s naval forces and coast guard service, paying visits to ports, and sharing information. In addition, NATO vessels will participate in exercises together with Ukrainian and Georgian vessels. Apart from that, on 18 March 2019, a NATO-Georgia exercise started at the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC), Krtsanisi National Training Centre. 350 soldiers from 21 NATO member states and 3 partner states participated in the exercise. The aim of the exercise, held in the framework of Substantial NATO-Georgia Package, was to strengthen Georgia’s defence capability. In addition, in 2018, Georgia and NATO signed an agreement based on which vehicles worth more than a million euros will be transferred to the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre (JTEC). More information about NATO/US military assistance to Georgia can be found here.