The British Ambassador to Georgia, Gareth Ward, met today with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tbilisi. The meeting, which lasted several hours, concluded without public comment from the diplomat, who refrained from disclosing details to the media.
Ambassador Ward is the second high-ranking Western envoy to be summoned to the Ministry this week, a move that signals rising diplomatic friction between Georgia and some of its key international partners.
Only a day earlier, on September 24, German Ambassador Peter Fischer was also called in for consultations at the Foreign Ministry. Following the meeting, Fischer remarked that this was the first time in the history of modern Georgian-German relations that such a step had been taken — underlining the unprecedented nature of the summons.
While the Georgian Foreign Ministry has not publicly specified the exact reasons behind these back-to-back meetings, political observers suggest they are linked to recent statements and actions by Western diplomats regarding Georgia’s domestic and foreign policy course. Over the past months, relations between Tbilisi and several Western partners have grown increasingly strained, particularly amid debates about democratic reforms, freedom of the press, and Georgia’s alignment with the European Union’s foreign policy agenda.
The summoning of ambassadors — a rare diplomatic gesture usually reserved for moments of serious disagreement — may point to deepening tensions between Georgia and its closest European allies. The developments also come at a time when Tbilisi faces heightened scrutiny from both Brussels and Washington, as the country awaits further progress reports on its EU candidate status and continued Western support in the face of Russian aggression in the region.
Image: IPN
