VOA helped bring democracy to Georgia, now it forfeits media landscape to Russia

For 74 years, Voice of America stood as one of the United States’ most reliable and effective instruments for promoting stability, transparency and democratic values in the South Caucasus. Since its first broadcast in 1951, during the height of the Cold War, VOA’s Georgian Service built a reputation for accuracy and trustworthiness among Georgian-speaking audiences. Over time, it became a primary channel through which Georgians learned about the United States — its policies, political debates and the principles guiding Washington’s engagement in the region.

Georgia remains one of the most strategically significant countries in Eurasia: a frontline state bordering Russia, positioned between Europe and Asia, and home to critical Black Sea infrastructure. Yet today, Georgia’s geopolitical orientation is shifting. The ruling Georgian Dream party government has moved closer to Moscow while expanding ties with Beijing. A striking example came when the government canceled a Western-backed consortium and awarded a strategic deep-sea port project on the Black Sea to a Chinese company. In this environment, America’s voice is more essential than ever.

Until it was silenced in mid-March 2025, VOA’s Georgian Service reached 3 million Georgians every week — roughly one-eighth of the adult population. Its broadcasts, distributed through Georgian television partners, digital platforms and satellite, also reached audiences in the Russian-occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, areas largely starved of independent information. For many viewers, the Georgian Service functioned as a de facto “Washington bureau” for the country’s media landscape, explaining U.S. foreign policy, clarifying congressional actions and providing context about American democratic institutions during times when local outlets faced pressure, censorship or political interference.

As Georgia’s internal political climate deteriorated — particularly after the government distanced itself from the EU integration path in 2024, cracked down on large pro-EU demonstrations, and faced allegations of election irregularities — VOA’s balanced reporting became even more vital. The service provided accurate news on sensitive issues at a time when the political climate meant independent media increasingly avoided topics such as corruption, human rights and good governance.

Before it stopped broadcasting, VOA’s Georgian Service conducted high-impact interviews with leading U.S. lawmakers overseeing policy toward the region. Senator James Risch (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, both spoke to VOA to express deep concern about the Georgian government’s tightening restrictions on free speech, limits on peaceful assembly and its controversial “foreign agents” law. The 2024 law required foreign-funded media groups and non-governmental organizations to register as foreign agents.

These interviews were widely cited across Georgian media and frequently prompted official responses in Tbilisi. Georgians also relied on VOA for clear explanations of U.S. sanctions imposed on Georgian officials involved in human-rights abuses, corruption or election interference. A widely viewed interview with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia James O’Brien made headlines when he called the “foreign agents” law “fundamentally flawed,” adding, “this is not a government capable of bringing Georgia toward Europe.”

VOA Georgian reporter Mariam Ugrekhelidze interviews former Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili in January 2025. Zourabichvili, whose term expired in December 2024, urged the U.S. to help ensure that Georgia remains a “stronghold of democracy.”

VOA’s Georgian Service also carried out a high-profile interview with pro-Western former Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, in which she expressed hope that the United States would continue supporting the Georgian people and their aspirations for Western integration and investment.


The absence of the Georgian Service since mid-March has created a profound information vacuum. In a media environment dominated by political pressure, Kremlin-aligned messaging, and the growing presence of Chinese state media, the loss of VOA removes one of the last trusted alternatives to misinformation. Georgians now have far fewer opportunities to hear directly from the United States at precisely the moment when anti-American narratives are spreading more aggressively across television, social media and political discourse.


For decades, VOA provided Georgian citizens with an unfiltered understanding of U.S. policy and democratic values. Restoring the service now would signal U.S. support for Georgia’s sovereignty, reinforce democratic resilience and ensure that one of America’s most effective public-diplomacy tools continues to serve a country whose future has consequences for regional stability and U.S. national-security interests.