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NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, Javier Colomina Píriz, said “a clear no” to possibly exluding Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions from protection under Article 5, to fast-track the country’s NATO accession.

“I do not think that it is an option,” added the Special Representative, addressing former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s suggestion in 2019 that Georgia should consider temporarily waiving Article 5 protection from Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.

In an online discussion on NATO-Georgia relations, held by Georgian Center for Strategy and Development on December 6, the NATO Envoy stressed that “we need to look for an overall solution and do not try to look for shortcuts.”

He argued that such a proposal is not “helpful in current circumstances,” as one of the messages NATO has been conveying “not only to Georgian authorities but to our adversaries” is support for the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.