Outgoing US ambassador to Tbilisi Robin Dunnigan says the ruling Georgian Dream party leadership sent a private letter to the Trump administration that was “threatening, insulting, unserious, and was received extremely poorly in Washington.”
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Georgian Service in Tbilisi on July 3, Dunnigan laid bare how ties between the two countries have continued to deteriorate since Donald Trump replaced Joe Biden as US President.
Georgia, once a close US ally, has angered Washington with a perceived tilt toward Russia and a violent crackdown on dissent.
Dunnigan said she traveled to Washington in the first days of the Trump administration to meet senior officials and then returned to Georgia with US conditions to reset relations.
She said these were 2-3 simple steps that included stopping “anti-American rhetoric,” and that she then relayed them in a meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili.
The private letter came three days later.
Dunnigan said the Trump administration was so surprised by the content of the letter that it “took us a while to come up with a response.”
In May, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze wrote an open letter to Trump complaining that there had been no answer.
The open letter also complained about Biden-era sanctions -- which are still in force -- and a bill in Congress called the MEGOBARI Act that seeks increased scrutiny of the Georgian government's actions and its ties to Russia and other authoritarian regimes like China.
Kobakhidze also emphasized Georgia’s desire to improve ties with the United States, a priority that officials in Tbilisi have repeatedly declared.
Georgia's Most Powerful Man
But an additional problem then emerged.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared a response to the private Georgian Dream letter but told Dunnigan to deliver it to Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Russia-friendly billionaire considered Georgia's most powerful political figure.
He is also the founder and "honorary" leader of the Georgia Dream party, which officially is headed by Kobakhidze.
But Ivanishvili refused to meet her, saying that he felt it was wrong to do so while he himself was still under US sanctions. He added that the sanctions amounted to “personal blackmail.”
“If the de facto leader of this country is unwilling to meet with leadership of the United States or receive a message from the Trump administration he is, in fact, putting his personal interests against the interests of the Georgian people,” Dunnigan said.
Dunnigan was offered a meeting with Kobakhidze, instead, but turned it down. “I wasn't asked to deliver (the US response) to the Prime Minister,” she told RFE/RL.
Dunnigan Steps Down
Appointed during the Biden-era, Dunnigan is leaving her post this month in what she has said was a personal decision. In the interview, Dunnigan rejected what she called “disinformation” by Georgian Dream that she was being recalled by the US government.
Reflecting on the changes she had seen in Georgia since arriving in October 2023, Dunnigan said there had been a brief chance for a meeting with Ivanishvili but that it was blown by last year’s Georgian parliamentary elections.
Georgian Dream claimed victory but the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the process was marred by instances of vote-buying, double-voting, physical violence, and intimidation.
Mass street protests met a violent response from security forces, prompting US sanctions in December 2024.
Dunnigan said the situation remained “very difficult” today, citing “the imprisonment of political opposition figures, the targeting of civil society” along with concerns over the rule of law and media freedom.
“The relationship between our governments is in a very difficult situation, and I think Georgia’s reputation has really suffered,” she said.
Looking forward, Dunnigan said she believed Washington could harden its stance toward Tbilisi. In May, the MEGOBARI act was approved by the House of Representatives and is now in the Senate.
“I've heard from several people in the Senate that they believe it will eventually pass,” she said. “It shows you in part what's happening to Georgia's reputation.”
