US, Georgia sign military training pact amid Russian threat on the Black Sea

TBLISI, Georgia ― U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Georgian counterpart on Monday signed an agreement to extend U.S.-led military training for the embattled Black Sea ally as part of the secretary’s trip through the region to reaffirm support for eastern allies on the front lines of Russian aggression.

The action came on the first leg of Austin’s trip, ahead of visits to other Black Sea allies Ukraine and Romania to deliver a message of “unwavering” support for their sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russian threats. Since Russia’s war with Georgia, it has had a 13-year grip on Georgia’s breakaway territories, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, that Austin decried on Monday.

“One point I’d like to be clear on is the United States condemns Russia’s ongoing occupation of Georgia and its attempts to expand influence in the Black Sea region through military coercion and malign activities,” Austin said while standing beside Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. “This is an important region, and its security and stability is crucial to fully realize a vision that we share of a Europe that is whole and free and at peace.

Georgia and Ukraine are NATO aspirants, and Romania is a member. Amid the Russian troop presence, NATO hasn’t agreed to advance Georgia’s membership, and the west has also been pressuring Georgia to curb corruption and reverse its democratic backsliding.

Austin responded to a question about Georgia’s reform efforts during a press conference at the Georgian Defense Ministry with Georgian Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze.

“The U.S. has always been a strong supporter of Georgia’s democratic development and independence, and we consistently seek to strengthen its democratic institutions,” Austin said. “Our embassy noted some problems with the recent election, but we also expressed confidence in Georgia’s ability to improve.”

U.S. Army, Marine Corps and special operations forces have trained Georgian infantry troops to resist Russian aggression in their territory, but its three-year term was set to end in December. The follow-on program unveiled Monday is aimed at making bureaucratic reforms, but would also teach Georgian maneuver brigades to integrate fires and include engineering capabilities for the first time.

“We are at a new level of collaboration and cooperation with the United States, which to maximum possible extent assures both Georgia’s defense and deterrence capabilities,” Burchuladze said.

Austin’s visits to the region follow a summer that saw U.S. Navy participation in live-fire drills on the Black Sea, where Russian warships were a constant presence. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet began its own exercise last month, firing its Bastion mobile anti-ship and surface-to-surface defense system at targets off the coast of Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Black Sea region holds strategic value for Moscow as a corridor for energy, telecommunications and transit to the Mediterranean, and the high-level visits are bound to make Moscow uncomfortable, said Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe.

“The last thing that the Kremlin wants is big Western investment in Georgia,” Hodges said. “So the fact that the secretary of defense of the United States is visiting three Black Sea nations is an important signal of the interests the United States has in the region, and we should be working hard on a strategy for the Black Sea region.”

The trip, which will wrap up at NATO’s defense ministerial meeting in Brussels, is his first to Europe since the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan. European allies have criticized the U.S. departure, and Russian officials have used it to argue America would abandon its Ukrainian allies.

Austin thanked Georgia for its participation in the Iraq War and Afghanistan, where Georgia lost 32 troops and was a top non-NATO contributor to the NATO-led mission.

It was the first visit from an American defense secretary since Chuck Hagel visited in 2014.

Weapons were not part of Monday’s announcement, but in August, the Biden administration approved a potential foreign military sale to Georgia for as much as $30 million in Javelin anti-tank missiles and launchers. The 46 launchers and 82 missiles, made by a Raytheon Technologies-Lockheed Martin joint venture, would come from U.S. Army stocks, according to the announcement .

It’s unclear how this week’s NATO meeting will address Georgia and Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Washington earlier this month “there is a lot in between nothing and full membership” and that he hopes “we can make some ambitious decisions at the next NATO Summit,” set for Madrid next year.

Austin will also meet with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv this week to discuss institutional reforms and further show support for Ukraine’s sovereignty in the face of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and ongoing war.

This summer, President Joe Biden pledged another $60 million in military aid, which includes more Javelin anti-tank missiles. The U.S. has overall committed more than $400 million in military aid this year, and Austin is not expected to announce more this week.

Austin will also visit NATO headquarters in Brussels for the alliance’s first in-person meeting of defense ministers since the COVID-19 pandemic. The alliance is grappling with criticism the U.S. didn’t consult allies before the pullout from Afghanistan.

However, Austin is likely to focus on China, which he has called the Pentagon’s top pacing threat as well as international cooperation to fight the Islamic State around the globe.

“The secretary intends to spend a lot of time listening to allies’ perspectives on where they see our [counter-ISIS] operations going, both in terms of Iraq and Syria, but also given the broader ISIS threat around the world,” said a senior administration official.

With reporting by the Associated Press.

Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.

格鲁吉亚第比利斯——美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀和格鲁吉亚国防部长周一签署了一项协议，延长美国主导的对这个陷入困境的黑海盟友的军事训练。此次访问是奥斯汀部长在该地区重申对处于俄罗斯侵略前线的东部盟友的支持的一部分。

此次行动是奥斯汀此次访问的第一站，之后他还将访问其他黑海盟国乌克兰和罗马尼亚，向两国传递“坚定不移”地支持其主权和领土完整的讯息，以对抗俄罗斯的威胁。自俄罗斯与格鲁吉亚爆发战争以来，俄罗斯已控制格鲁吉亚的两个分离地区——南奥塞梯和阿布哈兹长达13年之久，奥斯汀周一对此予以谴责。

“我想明确指出一点，美国谴责俄罗斯持续占领格鲁吉亚，并谴责其企图通过军事胁迫和恶意活动扩大在黑海地区的影响力，”奥斯汀站在格鲁吉亚总理伊拉克利·加里巴什维利身旁说道。“这是一个重要的地区，其安全与稳定对于全面实现我们共同的愿景——一个完整、自由、和平的欧洲——至关重要。”

格鲁吉亚和乌克兰都是北约候选国，罗马尼亚是北约成员国。由于俄罗斯军队驻扎在格鲁吉亚，北约尚未同意推进格鲁吉亚的入盟进程，西方国家也一直在向格鲁吉亚施压，要求其遏制腐败并扭转民主倒退的趋势。

在格鲁吉亚国防部举行的新闻发布会上，奥斯汀与格鲁吉亚国防部长胡安舍尔·布尔丘拉泽一起回答了有关格鲁吉亚改革努力的问题。

奥斯汀表示：“美国始终坚定支持格鲁吉亚的民主发展和独立，并持续致力于加强其民主制度。我们的大使馆注意到最近的选举存在一些问题，但我们也对格鲁吉亚改进的能力充满信心。”

美国陆军、海军陆战队和特种作战部队曾训练格鲁吉亚步兵抵抗俄罗斯在其领土上的侵略，但这项为期三年的训练计划原定于去年12月结束。周一公布的后续计划旨在进行官僚机构改革，同时也将首次训练格鲁吉亚机动旅整合火力作战能力并纳入工程兵种能力。

布尔丘拉泽说：“我们与美国的合作达到了一个新的水平，这最大限度地保障了格鲁吉亚的国防和威慑能力。”

奥斯汀此次访问该地区之前，正值美国海军在黑海进行实弹演习，而俄罗斯军舰则频繁出现在黑海海域。俄罗斯黑海舰队上个月也开始了演习，使用其“堡垒”机动反舰及舰对舰防御系统向克里米亚沿岸目标发射了导弹。克里米亚于2014年被俄罗斯从乌克兰吞并。

美国驻欧洲陆军前司令本·霍奇斯表示，黑海地区对莫斯科具有战略价值，是通往地中海的能源、电信和过境通道，高层访问势必会让莫斯科感到不安。

霍奇斯说：“克里姆林宫最不希望看到的就是西方对格鲁吉亚的大规模投资。因此，美国国防部长访问三个黑海国家，这有力地表明了美国在该地区的利益，我们应该努力制定黑海地区战略。”

此次访问将在布鲁塞尔举行的北约国防部长会议上结束，这是自美国混乱地从阿富汗撤军以来，他首次访问欧洲。欧洲盟友批评了美国的撤军，俄罗斯官员则以此为由，指责美国将抛弃其乌克兰盟友。

奥斯汀感谢格鲁吉亚参与伊拉克战争和阿富汗战争，格鲁吉亚在阿富汗战争中损失了 32 名士兵，并且是北约领导的阿富汗战争中最大的非北约成员国贡献国。

这是自2014年查克·哈格尔访问以来，美国国防部长首次到访。

周一的公告中并未提及武器，但拜登政府在8月份批准了一项潜在的对格鲁吉亚的军售，价值高达3000万美元，其中包括“标枪”反坦克导弹及其发射装置。公告称，这46套发射装置和82枚导弹由雷神技术公司和洛克希德·马丁公司的合资企业制造，将从美国陆军的库存中调拨。

目前尚不清楚本周的北约会议将如何处理格鲁吉亚和乌克兰问题。北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格本月早些时候在华盛顿表示，“从无成员资格到正式成员资格之间还有很多选择”，并希望“我们能在明年于马德里举行的下届北约峰会上做出一些雄心勃勃的决定”。

奥斯汀本周还将在基辅与乌克兰官员会面，讨论体制改革，并进一步表示支持乌克兰主权，以应对俄罗斯吞并克里米亚和持续不断的战争。

今年夏天，乔·拜登总统承诺追加6000万美元的军事援助，其中包括更多“标枪”反坦克导弹。美国今年已承诺的军事援助总额超过4亿美元，预计奥斯汀本周不会宣布更多援助计划。

奥斯汀还将访问位于布鲁塞尔的北约总部，参加自新冠疫情爆发以来北约首次国防部长线下会议。北约正努力应对外界批评，指责美国在从阿富汗撤军前没有与盟国协商。

然而，奥斯汀可能会将重点放在中国身上，他称中国是五角大楼面临的最大威胁，以及在全球范围内打击伊斯兰国的国际合作上。

一位高级政府官员表示：“国务卿打算花大量时间倾听盟友对我们（打击ISIS）行动走向的看法，不仅包括伊拉克和叙利亚，还包括ISIS在全球范围内的更广泛威胁。”

美联社报道。

乔·古尔德是《防务新闻》的资深五角大楼记者，负责报道国家安全政策、政治和国防工业的交汇点。他此前曾担任国会记者。