US breaks off ‘strategic partnership’ with Georgia; blasts Tblisi for ‘pro-Russia lean’

The United States has broken off its “strategic partnership” with Georgia after the latter’s decision to suspend negotiations on potential accession to the European Union, while condemning Tbilisi for, what it called, leaning towards Russia.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced the development on X, former Twitter, on Saturday.

“The US and EU regret Georgian Dream (GD)’s decision to suspend EU accession,” he wrote, referring to Georgia’s ruling party.

“The EU is a bulwark against the Kremlin. We have, therefore, suspended our Strategic Partnership with Georgia,” Miller said.

He also claimed that the party’s decision on the accession talks was a “betrayal” of the European country’s constitution.

The State Department, meanwhile, released a statement on Washington’s decision, accusing the GD of “various anti-democratic actions [that] have violated the core tenets of our US-Georgia Strategic Partnership.”

By freezing the accession talks, it added, the party “has rejected the opportunity for closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable to the Kremlin.”

The department also claimed that Georgian people “overwhelmingly support integration with Europe.”

GD Chairman Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze suspended the accession process on Thursday, saying the EU was expecting Georgia to enact “reforms” in exchange for joining the bloc that were actually “steps that mean renouncing our dignity."

The official was referring to Brussels’ various demands on Tbilisi, including its repealing of the foreign agents’ law that requires NGOs and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign donors to register as organizations "bearing the interests of a foreign power."

Brussels, he added, was effectively “blackmailing” Tbilisi through the demands.

The EU, itself, froze Georgia's application for joining the bloc earlier this year in response to ratification of the law among other things.

The Georgian premier, meanwhile, addressed the ongoing anti-government riots that have been going underway in the capital for the past two days, during which anarchists have put up barricades along the central Rustaveli Avenue and thrown fireworks at the riot police.

The country, he said, would not allow a revolution to take place, saying the rioters were seeking to overthrow the government, using the same tactics that were used during 2014 riots in Ukraine, known as the Maidan riots, which ousted the government in Kiev.

"In Georgia, the Maidan scenario cannot be realized. Georgia is a state, and the state will not, of course, permit this," Kobakhidze said.

Georgia’s State Security Service also commented on the riots, calling them evidence that a violent coup attempt was taking place in the country.

"Developments occurring in recent days in the country show that planned destructive processes are taking place in accordance with actual circumstances becoming known to the State Security Service as part of the investigation of the violent upheaval case. We informed the society in advance about that," the service said.

Specific political parties and non-governmental organizations are interested in the violent coup, it noted, adding that the developments were being investigated under Article 315 of the Georgian Criminal Code that covers conspiracy or mutiny for purposes of violent change of the Georgian constitutional order.

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