TBILISI (Reuters) -Britain has frozen its annual security dialogue with Georgia and cancelled other talks on defence over concerns about democratic backsliding, Britain’s ambassador to Tbilisi said in an interview published on Tuesday.
Relations between the West and Georgia, long one of the most pro-Western states to have emerged from the former Soviet Union, have soured this year in the run-up to a parliamentary election on Oct. 26.
The vote is widely viewed as a test of whether Tbilisi returns to Russia’s orbit or embraces a future in the European Union, which it has applied to join.
“I had expected that we would work together to strengthen Georgia’s resilience and our common prosperity, but over the past year the Georgian government has chosen a different course,” Ambassador Gareth Ward told the InterPress news agency.
A link to the interview was posted on the embassy’s Facebook page. The Foreign Office in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Archil Gorduladze, a lawmaker from the ruling Georgian Dream party, said the timing of Ward’s comments represented “gross interference” in Georgia’s internal affairs ahead of the election, InterPress reported.
Western countries have criticised Georgia over a law passed in May requiring groups that receive funding from abroad to register as foreign agents, a move opponents say will be used to stifle dissent.
Domestic opponents of the law say it resembles similar legislation passed in Russia in 2012 and widely used to silence Kremlin critics.
The Georgian government’s actions prompted Britain to raise “concerns about the decline of democracy and anti-Western rhetoric”, Ward said.
SECURITY CONTACTS
London will suspend its annual “Wardrop Dialogue” with Tbilisi for the first time since the sessions began in 2014, Ward said. Other high-level defence talks will also be cancelled and a new cyber security programme put on hold.
“After the elections, regardless of who is in government, we hope to see clear evidence of a return to the Euro-Atlantic path to rebuild trust and return to a close partnership,” said Ward.
Georgia’s EU membership process was frozen shortly after the foreign agent law was passed. The EU’s envoy to Tbilisi, Pawel Herczynski, said this month that Georgia might even face sanctions if it veers from democracy.
Georgia and Russia still have no formal diplomatic relations after they fought a short war in 2008. But Russian officials have repeatedly signalled that they want Georgian Dream – which is seeking a fourth term in office – to remain in power.
Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, said this month that Moscow wanted to see “healthy, nationally-oriented forces” retain power in Georgia.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Moscow did not interfere in Tbilisi’s internal affairs and accused Western countries, without providing evidence, of “undisguised attempts” to influence the course of Georgia’s election.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Gareth Jones)
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