The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has raised alarms over Russia’s growing influence in the South Caucasus, pointing out Georgia and Armenia in its most recent global threat assessment report.
The DIA claimed “Russia almost certainly aims to return Georgia to its sphere of influence.” The agency mentions that the Georgian Dream-led government has created conditions that “enable Russia to increase its influence in the country,” particularly after the October parliamentary elections.
The report also emphasizes worsening ties between Moscow and Yerevan, declaring: “Russo-Armenian relations deteriorated last year, as Armenia threatened withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization.” It adds that Russia has deployed “information operations to denigrate Armenian democracy and its more pro-Western leadership.”
The DIA’s findings showcase wider US concerns about the region’s destabilization as Russia seeks to reinforce control over former Soviet states through political manipulation and propaganda.
