Irakli Aladashvili: Nato is so powerless that it cannot make decisions

Interview by Georgy Kalatozishvili. Exclusively for VK

Georgia is preparing for the coming Nato summit in Wales. However it seems quite clear that the body is not going to propose a membership action plan to the country. Instead, Georgia is going to be offered to sign some kind of a preliminary document, according to which the parties will be set to "enhance mutual ties". This will mean that Nato specialists will increase their presence in the country, that joint Nato-Georgian activities will become more frequent and that Georgian troops will take a greater role in Nato operations abroad.

The editor-in-chief of the independent military magazine "Arsenali", Irakli Aladashvili, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the move shows that Nato does not know how to confront Russia in the region, in which it is becoming more and more influential.

- Irakli, what do you think about Nato's decision to sign an enhanced cooperation agreement instead of a membership action plan with Georgia?

- Normally I try to abstain from commenting on the political situation, as I am a military expert only. It's not clear what this "enhanced cooperation" means. I believe it means that Nato is not willing to sign a membership action plan with Georgia and wants to find some eloquent explanation so that Georgia wouldn't feel offended. So they are looking for a way out of the situation, but such way out doesn't exist. I think it's very unwise to make such a move while the whole world is waiting for Nato to respond to the Ukrainian crisis.

It shows that Nato is so powerless that it cannot make decisions. There were times when action plans were signed with countries who were much weaker than Georgia from the military point of view.

- But the suggested agreement will allow Nato to increase its staff in Georgia and intensify military cooperation...

- Such an intensification is quite possible without any agreement. No one is prohibiting the body from increasing its mission in the country. Moreover, it is not clear what they are actually going to do with their office in Georgia. Speaking about further training of Georgian soldiers, I should say that there is absolutely no need to make the Georgian army perfect. This goal simply cannot be achieved. If Georgia joins Nato its army will naturally evolve and meet the body's standards itself. In addition to that, I am not sure that all the member-states have armies which meet all these standards. the military budget of the Nato member-states has decreased by 15 percent in the last few years. I am very uncertain about the operational readiness of many such armies.

- There were many rumours about a possible deployment of Nato air defense systems in Georgia. They have even been confirmed by Defense Minister Irakli Alasania.

- Let me underline that he was talking about air defense systems and not missile defense systems, as some media said. The difference is crucial. The Nato secretary general made it perfectly clear that Nato cannot deploy any missile defense systems in a non-Nato country. Member-states are free to make their own decisions, but the body is not going to do so.

- The Georgian minister also said that Georgian troops would take part in the Nato direct-action corps. What does that mean?

- Such forces are indeed formed under the auspices of Nato, but will mean nothing for Georgia. It won't improve the country's security. I don't believe that such forces will defend Georgia in case of military danger. Our forces are able to take part in Nato operations, but it does not secure our own safety.

Nato's direct-action corps have only taken part in a few non-military missions. These were humanitarian missions. In fact, they are called action forces and not direct-action forces, as some say. The aim of this unit is to react to humanitarian crises and natural disasters rather than to respond to any actual military challenges.

Perhaps some day it will change, but right now these forces have only been used to deal with natural disasters such as floods and the tsunami. There is also the European Military Corps project. It's not clear what it will focus on. As a result, both projects are quite inadequate. The reason is that no one is ready to spend considerable funds on such initiatives.