Pentagon cancels major military exercise in response to Georgian claims weakening ties with US

Georgian soldiers scan their firing sectors during the Noble Partner exercise at Vaziani Training Area in Georgia in 2022. The Pentagon has canceled the largest U.S. military exercise in Georgia over concerns that the country is engaged in an anti-American disinformation campaign. (Victor Everhart/US Army)

The Pentagon has canceled a major US military exercise that was due to begin later this month in Georgia, amid accusations that Tbilisi is waging an anti-American disinformation campaign.

The two-week Noble Partner US Army Europe and Africa exercise is scheduled to begin July 25. The exercise, which has involved several thousand troops from many countries in previous years, took place at a former Soviet air base on the outskirts of the capital Tbilisi.

“This is an inappropriate time to conduct such a large-scale military exercise in Georgia,” the Defense Department said in a statement Friday.

The decision comes after a “comprehensive review” of relations that was launched in May in response to provocative statements by Georgian officials that the U.S. has rejected as untrue.

Georgia falsely claimed that the U.S. and other Western countries were trying to pressure it to open a second front in the Russia-Ukraine war and that it was involved in two coup attempts against the ruling party, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Relations with Georgia are currently at a low point, with Washington and other Western officials accusing the country’s government of leaning towards authoritarianism and strengthening ties with Russia.

Thousands of Georgians took to the streets in May to protest parliament’s passage of a law that has been criticized as an attempt to suppress dissent. The law is modeled on a Russian equivalent known as the “Foreign Agents Law.”

The situation marks a sharp turnaround for Georgia, which has for years sought NATO membership and closer integration with the European Union.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili remains committed to her pro-Western orientation and vetoed the controversial legislation, but MPs from the ruling Georgian Dream party overrode her veto and got the bill passed.

Before the country turned to Russia following the fall of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili, it held the United States in particularly high regard.

In 2008, when former US President George W. Bush pushed for Georgia to join NATO, not all allies were in favour of the idea. However, in gratitude for his advocacy, a section of a highway in Tbilisi was named after him.

Following Georgia’s brief war with Russia in 2008, the U.S. military maintained an especially close relationship with the Georgian Defense Forces, which have played a large role in Afghanistan despite the country’s small population.