With the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has made no secret of his congeniality toward Vladimir Putin, there can be no over-estimating of the heightened anxiety when it comes to strategy that now reigns in Kyiv. The plans for a “grand bargaining” between the United States and Russia, which the US President has sought in order to counter the expansion of China's power, has Ukrainian leaders fearing that they will be nothing but a pawn on the negotiating board laid out between Moscow and Washington.

Interview with Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili. Interview by Paul Toetzke.

PAUL TOETZKE: Mr. President, you are basically closing out “Georgian weeks” in Germany after the visits of the Georgian speaker of parliament as well the prime minister a few weeks ago. Among others, you met with the German President Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel. One important issue on the agenda was visa liberalisation for Georgians. Were there any promises made concerning the next steps?