At NATO’s 2008 Bucharest Summit, the allies refused to go along with a US push to offer Georgia a Membership Action Plan (MAP), but agreed that it would someday become a member of the Alliance. Germany and France intended for this equivocation to allay Russian objections, yet it was seized upon by Vladimir Putin as an opportunity to block Georgia’s path to the Alliance. In August 2008, a mere four months after the Bucharest Summit, Russia invaded Georgia and occupied twenty percent of its internationally recognized territory. With some creativity and bold political will, however, Georgia’s accession into NATO is still feasible, despite the Russian occupation.
OP-ED
Luke Coffey, Alexis Mrachek: End the Russian veto on Georgian accession
Georgian servicemen attend the opening ceremony of the Noble Partner 2020 joint military exercises with NATO forces at the Vaziani training centre outside Tbilisi on Sept. 7, 2020.
