For more than 3 decades, Georgia’s public service has stood as 1 of the most resilient pillars of its democratic transition and Euro-Atlantic ambitions. As a erstwhile diplomat, I have seen first-hand how generations of civilian servants, despite changes in political leadership, have worked tirelessly to advance Georgia’s NATO and EU integration, build strategical alliances, and enhance national security. Today, that pillar is being deliberately dismantled.
The fresh purges and alleged “reorganization” of Georgia’s Ministry of abroad Affairs (MFA) and Ministry of defence (MOD) are not administrative updates or efficiency improvements. They are part of a systematic run to punish loyalty to constitutional principles and sever the state’s organization commitment to the West. In the process, the Georgian Dream (GD) government is hollowing out the very public service that has safeguarded the country’s sovereignty and global standing.
The chain of developments began with GD’s stunning November 28th announcement to postpone Georgia’s EU accession process until at least 2028. The decision drew immediate and widespread condemnation, not just from abroad partners, but from within the state itself. Around 240 diplomats courageously signed a joint message reaffirming their loyalty to Article 78 of Georgia’s Constitution, which obliges the government to prosecute EU and NATO membership. What followed was a textbook case of political retaliation.
New legal amendments were swiftly passed to facilitate dismissals in the public service under the mask of “reorganization”. The MOD was among the first to feel the blow: nearly 2 twelve professionals were ousted, and the division for the “Substantial NATO-Georgia Package” was shut down. These dismissals were not performance-based – they were ideological purges targeting individuals who refused to surrender their commitment to Georgia’s democratic path.
The MFA has faced an even more aggressive assault. On April 29th, the head of the ministry, Maka Botchorishvili, announced the launch of a reorganization process. By July 1st, over 40 diplomats in Tbilisi were dismissed, including elder directors and division heads. An additional 20 were dismissed from embassies and consulates abroad. The “Information Centre on NATO and EU”, serving at the forefront of the fight against anti-western disinformation, was besides shut down.
But the harm was not limited to personnel. The very architecture of Georgia’s diplomatic apparatus has been ruined. There are no longer dedicated directorates for European and Euro-Atlantic integration. The Directorate-General for EU Integration was transformed into a general European Affairs Department, blurring its focus. The division liable for the implementation and elaboration of Georgia’s key NATO integration mechanism, the yearly National Programme, no longer exists. Its functions now, if at all, have been absorbed into a three-person division with undefined responsibilities.
Security policy has suffered an even greater erosion. The department that erstwhile handled cyber diplomacy, counterterrorism, arms control, and multilateral safety frameworks has vanished. In its place is simply a hollowed-out “Division for safety Policy”, whose intent remains opaque. Meanwhile, the Department for the Americas has been merged with the departments handling Asia and Africa under the same Directorate-General, contradicting the objectives of the US-Georgia Charter on strategical Partnership.
Public service in Georgia has long been a merit-based profession that transcended organization lines. This fresh era marks a rupture with that tradition. civilian servants are now being punished for upholding the Constitution and for resisting the abandonment of Georgia’s strategical compass. The consequence is simply a catastrophic failure of organization memory, professionalism, and policy continuity at a time erstwhile the global safety environment demands the exact opposite.
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What we are witnessing is not a series of isolated dismissals or regular bureaucratic reshuffles. It is simply a deliberate run to politicize state institutions and reroute the strategical direction of the country. The firing of experienced diplomats and defence professionals, the closure of the units focusing on the EU and NATO, and the centralization of abroad policy under ideologically loyal but professionally unqualified hands are all part of a broader trend. Georgia is being manoeuvred into geopolitical isolation by a government that no longer sees value in partnership with the democratic West.
These moves, however, should be viewed in the context of broader geopolitical dynamics. They are not just the instruments of authoritarian regulation 1 might observe elsewhere but a critical part of the turmoil Georgia has been shrouded in for more than a year now. What is unfolding is an ongoing Russian influence operation in Georgia, which, if successful, will strengthen Moscow’s power projection across the wider Black Sea and the mediate East. This comes at a minute erstwhile Russia is weakened by Ukraine’s maritime run against its Black Sea Fleet and is close to losing its military foothold in Syria.
If left unaddressed, these trends will leave Georgia diplomatically marginalized, strategically vulnerable, and morally adrift. Its future in the European and Euro-Atlantic community will stay not just delayed, but dangerously imperilled. specified an result would service only to advance Russia’s objectives, strengthening its presence in a region that remains strategically vital to both the United States and the West as a whole.
Megi Benia is simply a erstwhile Georgian diplomat. Until July 1st, 2025, she served at the Directorate-General for safety Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration in the Ministry of abroad Affairs of Georgia.
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