Publication: N10 / Review Period: July 1-31, 2023

The review is being prepared within the framework of the Roadmap to the Kremlin's Policy in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region project. The purpose of the review is to provide readers with information about main events and trends in the occupied regions of Georgia. The review is a monthly publication and will be useful for decision-makers, public employees, media representatives and other people who are interested in the developments taking place in the occupied regions of Georgia.

Abkhazia

Russian Investor Will Restore the Sokhumi Airport

After several months of intense negotiations, the issue of restoring the Sokhumi Airport was resolved. The airport has not been functioning since 1993, after the end of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. On June 9, Alexander Novak, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian government, who supervises the occupied regions, visited the airport. Shortly after the visit, on June 16, within the the framework of the St. Petersburg International Forum, the Russian Minister of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, and the de facto Deputy Prime Minister, Kristina Ozgan, signed an agreement “on the restoration of the Ardzinba Sokhumi International Airport.”

On July 26, the de facto parliament ratified the agreement. A Russian investor will lease the airport for 49 years and enjoy tax benefits for 25 years. The operation of the airport is a vital issue for the de facto President, Aslan Bzhania, one of whose pre-election promises was the airport rehabilitation. With the airpot launch, the de facto government expects to receive not only political but also economic benefits.

Opponents to the agreement ratification believe that the decision was made without public discussions and that the investor gets special rights. At this stage, it is only known that the Sokhumi Airport will be built with Russian money, although it is not yet known who the investor will be.

As per preliminary estimates, the first stage of the reconstruction will cost RUB 6.5 billion and involves the reconstruction of a 2.4-kilometer section of the 3.6-kilometer runway, which will enable the airport to receive passenger (SSJ-100, МС-21) and cargo (ИЛ-76) aircrafts. As planned, at the first stage of the reconstruction, the airport will receive 375.8 thousand passengers annually. The implementation of the second stage is planned after reaching the mark of 1 million passengers per year. The airport is expected to be operational by the end of 2024. It is worth noting that after putting into operation, the airport will not serve international flights since ICAO has imposed a ban on flights at the request of Georgia.

Apartments and Apart-Hotels

On July 12, a draft law “On regulation of the legal status of apart-hotels and apartments” was discussed at a meeting of the committee on state and legal policy of the de facto parliament. Representatives of political parties, public organizations, the public chamber and various agencies of de facto government also participated in the discussion.

Discussion of draft law

The main lobbyist for the adoption of the draft law is the de facto government which hopes to develop Abkhazia's economy and tourism through the construction and sale of apartments and apart-hotels.

According to the draft law, apartments will be granted the status of a commercial establishment (not intended for the permanent residence of a citizen), which can be owned by individuals and legal entities. The total number of apartments in the de facto republic should total 30,000.

Bzhania's opposition and part of society strongly criticize the initiative. They believe that the sale of Abkhaz lands and the settlement of foreigners will lead to the assimilation of the locals and a change in the demographic picture. The figures show that the construction of up to 30,000 apartments will lead to the settlement of 100,000 foreign citizens in Abkhazia by 2035. In addition, they fear that the absence of normative-legal acts in the construction sector, the preference for foreign investments compared to local ones, and the high probability of a sharp increase in real estate prices are a threat. Critics of the initiative think that Bzhania is trying to start selling real estate on the territory of Abkhazia through legislative manipulation, which the local “legislation” prohibits.

Russian Language Learning Center in Gali

With the support of the Russian Ministry of Education, an open education center was opened in the Humanitarian College of the occupied Gali, where the Russian language and its effective teaching mechanisms are taught. The main activity of the center will start from September 15. The short-term goal of the center is to start implementing six programs and three cultural-educational events. Specialists of the Armavir State Pedagogical University will be involved in the programs implementation, local specialists will assist them in relations with students. According to the head of the center, Igor Basov, “due to the specifics, residents of the Gali district are isolated from the rest of Abkhazia, and this is related to the fact that there is a problem with the Russian language in the district. The work of our center is aimed at reducing these problems, if not eliminating.” In the Gali district, there is mainly a Georgian-speaking population, which no longer receives education in the Georgian language since 2015. In a total of 20 schools of the district, studies are conducted in the Abkhaz-Russian language. The goal of the de facto government and the Russian education policy is to assimilate the local Georgian-speaking population and weaken their Georgian identity.

Foreign Activity

• In July, relations with Nicaragua were the leading direction in Abkhazia's foreign policy. On July 18, the Abkhaz delegation visited Nicaragua to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. The delegation was headed by the de facto First Vice Prime Minister, Beslan Jopua.
• On July 20, Nicaragua and the de facto government of Abkhazia signed the program of events for 2023 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua.

Program signing ceremony

• Abkhazia and Nicaragua will work on creating the Union Media Holding. According to the de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs, Inal Ardzinba, the purpose of creating a media holding is joint information work based on the ideas of forming a just multipolar world and countering the United States.

Natural Disaster in Abkhazia

The month of July was rainy in Abkhazia. On July 8-9, heavy rains flooded many settlements, especially Gagra and Bichvinta, which are the most attractive for Russian tourists. On July 10, Bzhania established an emergency headquarters to deal with the consequences of the disaster. Such a disaster during the tourist season is a serious blow to the local population, whose important source of income is tourism. In addition to the evacuation of tourists, the de facto government will have to spend millions of rubles to restore damaged infrastructure and houses. Only in the Gagra district, the damage amounted to RUB 60 million.

Tskhinvali Region

Gasification of the Tskhinvali Region

On July 11, during a meeting with the population, the de facto President Alan Gagloyev spoke about the complete gasification of the region by 2025. According to him, a new “intergovernmental” agreement is being prepared as per which part of the gasification costs will be financed by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, and part - by the Russian government. The cost of the project will total RUB 2.7 billion.

The gasification of villages of the region was first announced by the former President, Leonid Tibilov, after a meeting with Putin on June 1, 2015. The topic was revived in 2018, during Anatoly Bibilov’s presidency. The plan provided for the gasification of 200 settlements which comprised the construction of a 520 km section of pipline network between the villages and a 370 km section - in the villages.

The Tskhinvali region receives gas through the Dzuarikau-Tskhinvali gas pipeline, the annual throughput capacity of which is 252.5 million cubic meters, which seven times exceeds local consumption. The pipeline load has not exceeded 15% of its capacity for the last ten years, which means that the pipeline is a commercially unprofitable project and is mainly of political importance.

New “Prosecutor General”

On July 5, the de facto parliament approved the candidacy of Grigory Sobaev for the position of General Prosecutor. After the election of Alan Gagloyev as a “president,” this position was vacant for more than a year. Sobaev was introduced to personnel on July 7. A 43-year-old Sobaev was born in the region. He served in peacekeeping forces, military prosecutor's office and militia. In 2013-2018, he was a judge of the Tskhinvali City Court. From 2022, he was the “Prosecutor” of Tskhinvali. Sobaev is not considered a heavyweight figure. As per widespread opinion, he will not be able to make decisions independently, neither will go against the interests of any interest group.

Election of new “Prosecutor General”

Sobaev named the investigation of Inal Jabiev's case as a priority. Jabiev died on August 28, 2020, in the building of the criminal militia as a result of violence by representatives of the law enforcement agency. The case against the former “Prosecutor General” and the Minister of Internal Affairs, who are the main defendants in the case, has already been initiated on charges of office abuse.

On July 19, Gagloyev announced that the investigation into Jabiev's case has been completed. At this stage, the defendants should familiarize themselves with the case, after which the case will be sent to court. Bringing this case to the end is the main challenge for Gagloyev, because the political failure of his predecessor, Anatoly Bibilov, was caused by his improper response to this case.

New Round of the Geneva Talks and a Meeting in Ergneti

58th Round

On July 11-12, the 58th round of the Geneva International Negotiations was held. This is the second meeting this year while only one round took place in 2022. Like the previous meetings, this time too, the Abkhaz side put forward an initiative to resume meetings in the format of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in the occupied city of Gali. The last IPRM meeting in Gali was cancelled after Russian and Abkhaz participants left the meeting as a result of disagreements with the Georgian side in 2018. Disagreement resulted in the inclusion of the murder of Giga Otkhozoria in the agenda of the meeting. The position of the Georgian side on the restoration of meetings in Gali is unknown. The next round of negotiations was planned for December of this year.

113th Meeting  

On July 3, the 113th meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) was held in the village of Ergneti (Gori municipality). The meeting, along with other traditional issues, discussed the issue of sharing irrigation water for preparatory work for the irrigation season. The next 114th meeting was scheduled for September 12 this year.

Prigozhin’s Rebellion and Occupied Regions’ Evaluation

The occupied regions responded to a statement of the Chairman of Georgian Dream, Irakli Kobakhidze, on how the opposition was planning not only to enter Abkhazia and Tskhinvali with tanks, but also to capture Sochi following the success of the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Private Military Company in Russia.

According to the de facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Tskhinvali region, “the calls of the opposition in Georgia to occupy South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as to open a “second front” against Russia, are tantamount to suicide.” According to the agency, an attack on the occupied regions will be considered as an attack on Russia.

The de facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia, Alexander Ankvab, called the “plans of the Georgian opposition to enter Abkhazia and capture Sochi” nonsense.

Prigozhin's rebellion, which the Kremlin described as a coup attempt, began on June 23 and ended on June 24.