The U.S. military assistance to Georgia is a waste of money

Till the end of 2015, the U.S. will provide additional military aid of $ 20 million to Georgia in the scopes of the «enhancement of allies’ guaranties” program. This was declared by U.S. Defense Department Chief Ashton Carter at the meeting in Washington with his Georgian counterpart. The U.S. intends to continue the cooperation with Georgia, including the annual bilateral and multilateral exercises and trainings, as announced by Carter.

20 million dollars will not affect the Russian-Georgian relations, in his interview to RUSARMINFO has said George Kanashvili, Executive Director of the Georgian center «Caucasian House».

«$20 million is a small sum even for Georgia. Well, if we were talking about $ 500 million, then Russia would have been alerted. Georgia and America have always been in a close cooperation in various fields, including the military. And this amount is not beyond the regime of cooperation, which has existed for several decades,» mentions the expert.

The U.S. assistance in arming Georgia is a waste of money, according to Michael Khodarenok, Chief editor of the «Aerospace defense» magazine.

«The amount of aid, of course, is small, for example, the cost of fighter-interceptor of fifth-generation F-22 Raptor is $ 400 million, and $ 20 million is about the price of one good military helicopter. But is it still necessary to invest in the Georgian army? Hardly the Georgians will become good soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers, all the recent conflicts have pictured a clear proof of this. There are no such villages and cities in Georgia, like in Nagorno-Karabakh, from where came two marshals of the Soviet Union.»

According to the military expert, the initiative of the United States will give a negative connotation in relation to the deadlocked Russian-Georgian relations. Khodarenok believes that the Georgian side should take the first steps towards the restoration of good-neighborly relations with Russia.

It’s noteworthy to add that the passed meeting of the U.S. and Georgia defense ministers, Ashton Carter and Tinatin Khidasheli, was the first one after the appointment of the first military woman as the head of the Defense Ministry of Georgia.