Caucasus expert skeptical over Georgia’s NATO accession

PanARMENIAN.Net - Following a parliamentary win of Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s bloc, NATO may continue using Tbilisi in pursuit of own interests, a Caucasus expert said, expressing skepticism over Georgia’s chances for NATO accession.

“When asked to predict a date for Georgia’s accession to the Alliance, Russian ex-PM Chernomyrdin had said: ‘it will happen about the same time Turkey joins the European Union,’ which means never. The bid is a mere bait to make Georgia follow NATO-set direction,” Alexander Krylov told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

“However, Georgia will only benefit from multivectoral policy, with domestic and foreign policy lines depending on the change of power in the country. So far, Saakashvili has been relinquishing full control to external powers rather than Georgian politicians,” Krylov concluded.