Georgia waiting 'patiently' for US reset after Vance snub

Georgia said Tuesday it was "patiently" waiting for a reset in U.S. ties, as U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan but skipped Tbilisi -- once Washington's closest regional ally.

Relations between Georgia and the U.S. have sharply deteriorated over the past two years, with U.S. officials accusing the ruling Georgian Dream party's government of democratic backsliding and drifting closer to Russia.

Washington has suspended a strategic partnership agreement with Tbilisi and imposed sanctions on senior officials linked to the ruling party.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Tbilisi remained open to restoring the relationship, despite being left off the itinerary for Vance's South Caucasus trip.

When asked about Vance's apparent snub, Kobakhidze said Georgia would wait "for as long as it takes, patiently" for the U.S. to change its position.

Pressed on when that patience might run out, he replied: "Never."

Kobakhidze said Georgia had already taken what he called its "main step" by openly expressing readiness to renew the partnership with Washington "from a new page."

Georgia, he added, was prepared to "discuss all issues without any preconditions and to rebuild strategic ties based on a concrete roadmap."

Georgia was long seen as one of the most pro-Western states in the former Soviet Union and a champion of democratic reforms, with successive governments pursuing NATO and EU integration and hosting U.S. military cooperation programmes.

But relations have soured amid mass protests over controversial laws stifling political dissent, media, and civil society, as well as anti-Western rhetoric by Georgian Dream leaders that Washington and Brussels have dismissed as hostile and conspiratorial.

Vance's trip to Yerevan and Baku seeks to advance U.S.-backed regional connectivity -- including a trade route bypassing Georgia -- and peace efforts, highlighting Tbilisi's growing diplomatic isolation from its traditional Western partners.

AFP