The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted on September 10 on the statement made by NATO's Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during his visit to Georgia on September 6.
In Tbilisi, Rasmussen reiterated NATO's ‘unwavering support for Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognised borders' and told president Mikheil Saakashvili: ‘you have a friend in NATO - and a future home in NATO'.
The Russian foreign ministry commented on this statement by saying that it ‘does not contain any new elements, compared to the decision taken at the NATO summit in Bucharest (2008) and the reaffirmation at the alliance's summit in Chicago (2012) according to which Georgia will become a member of NATO.
However, the Russians reiterated their position on the issue of Georgian membership to NATO by saying that such comments by NATO suggested that the Alliance has not learned lessons from the tragic events in 2008 in South Caucasus because it continued to send Tbilisi ‘encouraging signals'.
