Interviews

Anna Kalandadze of Voice of America’s Georgian Service in Washington talked to Jonathan Katz, Senior Fellow at the German Marshal Fund of the United States to discuss the latest Georgian presidential elections and the upcoming second round. First round of Presidential elections was marred by numerous violations and violence. Still, international …

On October 28, Georgians went to the polls to elect their fifth president. Runoff between the two top contenders – the ruling party-backed Salome Zurabishvili and the opposition candidate Grigol Vashadze – will be held later this month or early December. Voice of America’s Ia Meurmishvili spoke about the presidential …

On October 28, Georgians went to the polls to elect their fifth president. The National Democratic Institute, a U.S.-based non-profit, dispatched a high-level observation mission to monitor the presidential elections. To speak on the election day and the period leading up to it, as well as the upcoming runoffs, we …

On October 28, Georgians will cast vote to elect their president directly for the last time. VOA Georgian’s Ani Chkhikvadze spoke on the upcoming elections with Stephen Nix, regional program director for Eurasia at the International Republican Institute. Elections are coming up in Georgia. What are the issues that the …

Ukraine and Georgia can be considered as blueprints of Russia’s information warfare. Kremlin tested its tactics first in the region later to apply the strategy in Europe and the United States. What is the anatomy of the Russian disinformation, how does it operate and what are its goals? VOA Georgian’s …

Controversy around the Georgian Healthcare Ministry’s Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research – previously known as Central Public Health Reference Laboratory – continues, as Russia levels new allegations against this biological research facility, originally established with the U.S. support and funding. In her recent news briefing on October 10, …

Derek Chollet, former Assistant Secretary of Defense of the Obama Administration says the “Reset” policy was an aberration. He believes at the time Washington miscalculated the extent of Vladimir Putin’s support for President Dmitry Medvedev’s policies and had a false expectation of Putin’s willingness to have some continuity in Russian …

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said that Georgia’s new president should make “loud and open declaration” that s/he will be the president for all people and all interest groups. “You will be able to unite your people, to support the objectives, which should be actually the objectives which you see from …

“For Georgia to succeed on the path to reform, is the ultimate and most important way to beat Vladimir Putin,” Wess Mitchell, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said today at the Tbilisi International Conference “World in 2018: Upside Down?” co-hosted by the the McCain …

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius, who participated in the international conference in Tbilisi on September 11-12, stated yesterday that if the Russian government “will not realize that they are going to[wards] the stalemate situation” that would “be danger to everyone” around. “I am always saying, Russia is not a superpower, today Russia …

On the seventeenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Voice of America’s Ia Meurmishvili interviewed Nicholas (Nick) Rasmussen, senior director of the McCain Institute’s Counterterrorism Program, a national security expert with over twenty-seven years in U.S. government service.  Ia Meurmishvili anchors …

On October 28, Georgian citizens will head to polls to elect their fifth president for a six-year term. This will be the last time that the head of state will be elected through direct ballot. Voice of America’s Ani Chkhikvadze has asked Donald Jensen, Kenneth Yalowitz and William Courtney to comment on the …

Ani Chkhikvadze of Voice of America’s Georgian Service interviewed Dalibor Rohac, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), on recent political and economic developments in Central and Eastern Europe. There is a lot of discussion on the backsliding of countries like Hungary and Poland, as well as on …

Stephen Hadley was President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor in 2005-2009. In an exclusive interview with the Voice of America’s Georgian Service, he recalls the events leading up to the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the steps the Bush Administration took in response to this aggression.   …

On the tenth anniversary of the Russo-Georgian war, its roots and consequences, Anna Kalandadze, chief of Voice of America’s Georgian service in Washington interviewed Matthew Bryza, a career U.S. diplomat who served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in 2005-2009. What is Georgia 10 …

On June 13, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced his resignation citing differences of opinion on economic matters with the ruling Georgian Dream party members, as well as the GD founder and leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili. Voice of America’s Ani Chkhikvadze has asked Davit Kramer, Paul Stronski, John Herbst and Kenneth Yalowitz …

Voice of America’s Ani Chkhikvadze sat down with Ambassador Kurt Volker, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, to discuss Georgia’s domestic and foreign affairs. Recently, Syria’s Assad Government recognized occupied Abkhazia and Ossetia as independent states. Why do you think we saw this right now, especially given that Georgia, as …

Q: Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Syria over recognition by Assad’s regime of its two breakaway provinces. Was this a right step, in your mind? A: politically and legally this was the only natural step. A government is obliged to break off diplomatic relations with a country, which does …

At the conclusion of Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s recent visit to Washington DC, three senior U.S. diplomats published a story, titled “Where Georgia is Headed.” The article, authored by William Courtney, Daniel Fried and Kenneth Yalowitz, reflects on the three ambassadors’ earlier report, dubbed “Georgia’s Path Westward.” To discuss …

Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges, Pershing Chair of Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Voice of America’s Ia Meurmishvili that NATO has reacted strongly to Russia’s aggression, and that the Alliance has not been as strong as it is now for a long time. LTG Hodges …