The United States and Georgia signed a security deal Wednesday designed to shore up the former Soviet republic's defences against Russia as it waits to join NATO.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili inked the agreement at a ceremony in Tbilisi just two days before the annual NATO summit in Warsaw.The agreement is bitter-sweet compensation for tiny Georgia, which was promised a path to NATO membership in 2008 but still has no real prospect of joining the alliance.Two breakaway regions of Georgia are occupied by Russian forces and, along with Ukraine, it has seen its way to the alliance delayed by nervous European powers."On security, our partnership is unwavering," Kerry told reporters, hailing Georgia's large commitment of troops to the NATO support mission in Afghanistan."The Georgian people have chosen a Euro-Atlantic future and the United States remains committed to helping the Georgian people attain that goal." more
