Georgia is not raising the issue of expanding U.S. military assistance but is asking for more political support amid the events in Ukraine, President Salome Zourabichvili said. While in Washington, she made it clear that she sees no reason to fear military action from Russia, in comparison to the war in Ukraine, but did not rule out Russia playing on Georgian nerves. “Therefore, our Western partners, for their part, should not forget about Georgia. Today we are not talking about expanding military assistance but about showing greater political support for Georgia and Moldova,” Zourabichvili said. She stated that she would like to see more references to Georgia in the statements of the U.S. authorities, believing that this would be "an important signal to Moscow."
The Georgian President confirmed that Tbilisi does not intend to abandon its Euro-Atlantic aspirations. “It is not for us to decide, but I can say that we want security guarantees. As a small country living next to Russia, which occupies two of our territories, we cannot say no to security guarantees,” she said, referring to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose independence is recognised by the Russian Federation.
Earlier, the Georgia Support Act was approved by the United States House of Representatives with 406 votes in favour and 20 votes against. According to the bipartisan bill, international citizens responsible for or complicit in egregious human rights abuses in Georgia's Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia should face entry and property-blocking penalties.
