Georgia condemns Russian president over NATO remarks

By Davit Kachkachishvili

TBILISI, Georgia (AA) - Georgian Parliament Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks against Georgia's membership into NATO.

On Monday, the Russian president told Fox News that his country would react "extremely negatively" to the membership of Georgia and Ukraine in NATO.

"For us, well, it is a direct and immediate threat to our national security," Putin said, during the interview after his meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump in Helsinki the same day.

Kobakhidze said that the ultimate goal of the Tbilisi administration was to get NATO membership.

"For us, priority issues in foreign policy are to be integrated with NATO and the EU, and you know that we are moving forward," Kobakhidze said.

"It is our right," he added.

Georgia has long lobbied for membership in the EU and NATO, aspirations that were exacerbated by Russia’s 2008 invasion that resulted in the separation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Tbilisi’s control.