Georgian Defense Minister to West: Talk to Russia Without Forgetting Partners

The West should have a “clearly defined agenda” that would also reflect interests of its partner nations like Georgia and Ukraine when talking with Russia over possible partnership in fighting terrorism or solving problems in Syria, Georgia’s Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli said.

She said that it won’t work if in that process the West chooses to “forget” differences with Russia, including those over Ukraine and Georgia.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the Halifax international security forum in Canada, Khidasheli also stressed that she disagrees with a notion that the U.S. or Europe are “abandoning” their partners, being it Georgia, Ukraine or others – a view, which she said, became “popular” by images of the U.S. President Barack Obama and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin speaking “friendly” on the sideline of the G20 summit in Antalya.

“I don’t think it’s abandonment, but what is missing from the picture is that – we can talk and cut whatever deals are possible with Russia, but as long as it is not accompanied with a very positive, clearly defined agenda towards those countries, which have been [West’s] partners over the years, then we are missing something important from the picture,” she said.
 
She said that it is possible to fight terrorism and at the same time to “expand the free world” – the two should be done simultaneously, she said, “otherwise it sends a very wrong message to Moscow.”

“What we are saying is: talk to Russians, try to get as much outcome as possible from those talks, but at the same time prove to Russians that you have your own agenda towards the countries that Russia is so much obsessed about; expand the free world,” she said.

She said that such an approach will be a clear message to Russia that “it is not a desperate position of the West to have Russia on board” in tackling global challenges and threats, including terrorism.

“If today we say that the world cannot deal with the problem in Syria without Russia – as we hear from many European leaders – it strengthens Moscow… For them [Russians] it is a green light, an open invitation that there will be no solution to any troubles in the world without Russia… That’s a wrong message for the type of leadership that is in Moscow,” the Georgian Defense Minister said.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who was among speakers at the same panel discussion, said that the “great power competition” is now back and described Russia as “resurgent great power” and China as “rising great power”; he said that the U.S. policy toward Russia is strong but balanced and that there’s a room for cooperation between great powers. Other speakers at the same panel were Israel’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni, and Colombia’s Defense Minister Carlos Villegas Echeverri.