OSW Commentary - Having your cake and eating it. Georgia, the war in Ukraine and integration with the West

Tbilisi’s double game In response to the Russian invasion, the president, the prime minister and the head of parliament of Georgia declared their solidarity with Ukraine: the prime minister condemned Moscow’s actions and called for de-escalation, and the president called the events a joint tragedy for Ukraine and Georgia. [...] This was allegedly done to avoid drawing the country into an armed conflict: a scenario in which Georgia becomes the next target of a Russian attack is not implausible in the light of the experience of the war between the two countries in 2008 – and the costs for the economy (e.g. [...] There has been a serious crisis in relations since July 2021, when Georgian Dream withdrew from the agreement of political forces concluded under the aegis of the President of the European Council Charles Michel.15 The report by the European Parliament in March 2022 which assessed the implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement over the past two years concluded that the situation with r. [...] Despite Georgia’s disloyalty, the EU and the US have been obliged – especially in the current situation of the war in Ukraine – to give it their unconditional support, although the country is no longer acting as a ‘Western bridge- head in the South Caucasus’ (describing the political evolution of Yerevan, which is important in this context, and to a lesser extent that of Baku goes beyond the scope. [...] Georgian Dream, despite the specific moves it has made towards Euro-integration (it was the GD government that signed the association agreement with the EU), will always be perceived as less pro-Western than the opposition; and the obstacles on the way to joining the EU and NATO (the aforementioned need for reforms, which risk losing power) tempt it to do business with Moscow for the sake of short.