Georgia says joining NATO only way to preserve country's integrity - report

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Georgian Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze arrive for a NATO Defence Ministers roundtable meeting in Brussels, Belgium, February 17, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Joining NATO is the only way to preserve Georgia's territorial integrity, the TASS news agency quoted its Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze as saying on Thursday.

Burchuladze spoke after meeting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, at a time when Russia has locked horns with the West over the NATO membership aspirations of another one of its neighbours, Ukraine.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by John Stonestreet)