Inal Ardzinba

De facto Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia

(Former Chairman of the Inter-Religious Public Council for Youth Affairs, existing at the Patriarch of Russia, Kiril; Former Head of Department of the Directorate for Social-Economic Cooperation with CIS Member States, Abkhazia and “South Ossetia”)

Inal Ardzinba is the Chairman of the Inter-Religious Public Council for Youth Affairs, existing at the Patriarch of Russia, Kiril and the former Head of Department of the Directorate for Social-Economic Cooperation with CIS Member States, Abkhazia and “South Ossetia”. He is backed by a person close to President of Russia, Vladimir Putin – Vladislav Surkov. Despite his Abkhazian origins and position, Ardzinba’s activities towards Abkhazia at the moment are manifested in the work of the Good Will Ambassadors of Abkhazia and participating in meetings held on topics regarding Abkhazia.

General Biographical Data

• Inal Ardzinba was born on July 26, 1990 in Sokhumi, Abkhazian ASSR, Georgian SSR, USSR. According to the existing information, he is the relative of the first de facto President of Abkhazia, Vladislav Ardzinba. His father, Batu Ardzinba, is the participant of the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia and possesses the Order of Leon.
• In 2007, Ardzinba graduated from Sokhumi public school No. 10.
• After finishing his studies in Sokhumi, from 2007 to 2012 he studied at the faculty of International Economics and World Politics of Moscow Higher School of Economics, where he enrolled without exams, as he had good grades at school and took advantage of the quotas allocated by the Russian government for Abkhazians.
• During his student years, he published a book – National Economy of Abkhazia. Modern approaches to the development of Abkhazian economy until 2020 are discussed in the book. One of the editors of the book is Aleksandr Ankvab, who was the de facto President of Abkhazia from 2011 to 2014.
• In 2014, he ended up at the top of the ratings of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region Young Leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union.
• On December 2, 2017, at Putin’s Directive, he was granted the title of the Real State Advisor of the Third Class.
• On June 18, 2018, Ardzinba received an honorary certificate from Putin for his contribution to holding World Youth and Students Festival in October 2017, in Sochi.
• Ardzinba’s colleagues call him Doberman for his rather strict style of work.

Professional Career

• In 2012, right after graduating from the university, Ardzinba held the position of the Assistant to the President of the Company on Relations with State Structures at the largest Russian insurance company RosGosStrakh.
• In 2012, Ardzinba headed the Russian delegation at the Youth G8 summit held in Washington, held parallel to the actual G8 summit. During the summit Ardzinba lobbied the issue of international recognition of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region.
• In 2013, he led the Russian delegation at the Youth G20 summit in Saint-Petersburg and at Youth G8 summit in London. At the Saint-Petersburg summit, he presented the final declaration to Putin himself.
• From 2014, Ardzinba’s career at the Russian Presidential Administration begins. For some period of time he was a consultant at the Directorate for Social-Economic Cooperation with CIS Member States, Abkhazia and “South Ossetia,” afterwards becoming the First Deputy of Surkov. During his work with Surkov, Ardzinba curated the projects of destabilizing Ukrainian regions. In Ukraine, he is accused of especially severe crimes, namely of the attempts to alter the state borders of Ukraine and violating the constitutional order of the country. At the Kremlin, he curated relations with the self-proclaimed Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
• Ukraine has announced international search for Ardzinba. He even ended up in the list of the enemies of Ukraine in 2015. In December 2015, Ardzinba was accused of destabilizing the situation in Southern Ukraine while in March 2016, he was accused of trying to enact the “Bessarabia Project” (the project envisaged the creation of the People’s Republic of Bessarabia on Odessa District) by the former President of Georgia and Governer of Odessa Oblast, Mikheil Saakashvili.
• On June 26, 2017, at the request of the Head of Russian Presidential Administration, Ardzinba was appointed as Head of Department at the Directorate for Social-Economic Cooperation with CIS Member States, Abkhazia and “South Ossetia.” Before that, he held the position of a Senior Advisor at the Directorate for CIS Affairs of the President of Russian Federation. On October 2, 2018, the President of Russian Federation signed a Directive on the Directorate for Cross Border Cooperation of the President of Russian Federation. According to the Directive, this new Directorate replaced the Directorate for Social-Economic Cooperation with CIS Member States, Abkhazia and “South Ossetia”.
• On October 24, 2018, Ardzinba became the Chairman of the Inter-Religious Public Council for Youth Affairs, existing at the Patriarch of Russia, Kiril. The Council is supposed to become a mechanism that will unite public figures, young public servants, representatives of law enforcement structures and government corporations, entrepreneurs and experts. During the presentation of the Council Ardzinba stated that it is an inter-religious public organization, which will be dealing with social problems. According to Ardzinba, the organization will work in four directions:  education, charity, organizing cultural and mass activities as well as international work. Ardzinba stated that the main aim of the Council is to raise patriotic youth and foster their spiritual development. According to him, the organization is oriented on “wide masses” and not just “pious youth and church structures”. American actor, Steven Seagal, also participated in the presentation of the Council, as he is a Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia for Russian-US Humanitarian Connections. Patriarch of Russia also congratulated Ardzinba on his appointment to this position.
• On November 17, 2021, Inal Ardzinba was apopointed as de facto Foreign Minister of Abhkazia, by the decree of de facto President Alsan Bzhania. Ardzinba replaced Daur Kove.

Relations with Abkhazia

• On June 5, 2017, Ardzinba participated in the constituent assembly of the charity movement Good Will Ambassadors of Abkhazia, founded by the Abkhazian diaspora in Moscow. The movement aims to implement humanitarian projects. It was supported by a famous footballer, Akhrik Tsveiba, who played for Dinamo Tbilisi from 1985 to 1989.
• On August 18, 2017, in Sokhumi, Ardzinba met with young Abkhazian diplomats, economists and IT specialists. At the meeting, Ardzinba supported the social and charity projects organized by the Abkhazian youth. Members of the Good Will Ambassadors of Abkhazia movement also attended the meeting.
• On November 7, 2017, Ardzinba met with Abkhazian students at the Moscow State International Relations Institute, where he spoke about maintaining the Abkhaz language and other pressing issues for the youth.
• On June 15, 2018, in Moscow, Ardzinba attended the press conference on the occasion of the Forum of Russian and Abkhazian Young Leaders, where the de facto President of Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba, was also in attendance.
• On September 30, 2018, a charity football match was held on the occasion of the Day of Abkhazian People’s Victory in the Homeland War, where the teams of the Good Will Ambassadors of Abkhazia movement and Friends of Abkhazia (consisting of the employees of the Russian Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia) played. Ardzinba was the captain of the Good Will Ambassadors of Abkhazia movement team.
• According to the article published in „Российская газета“ on February 5, 2019, the Public Chamber of Abkhazia together with the Public Chamber of Russia and in cooperation with the Foundation for Democracy Studies, conducted sociological research: “Abkhazia-2018: Public-Political processes and problems concerning population.” According to the research, Inal Ardzinba topped the rating as future leader of Abkhazia. Publishing this information in Russian newspaper led to certain misunderstanding in Abkhazia. Supposedly misunderstanding was caused by Ardzinba research-based unconditional leadership. There is a consideration, that certain groups are lobbying Ardzinba come to Abkhazian politics. Consequently, political groups, disapproving Ardzinba candidacy, expressed dissatisfaction on Ardzinba top-rating. This misunderstanding, supposedly, is demonstration of disagreement between Ardzinba supporters and opponents.
• As a result of January 9-12, 2020 political crisis in Abkhazia, followed by the resignation of de facto President of Abkhazia Raul Khajimba, Ardzinba made a statement on new party formation in Abkhazia. In an interview with Russian media Ardzinba stated that new party (the party’s working name is - „Будущее Абхазии“ – „Future of Abkhazia“) might be formed in Abkhazia after [de facto] President Raul Khajimba resignation by the end of spring when [illegitimate] presidential elections are scheduled. The party founder and coordinator will be himself. He said it had long been planned to set up political structure in Abkhazia focused on expressing and protecting interests of the youth, however the current crisis has given decisive impetus.
• On June 7, 2020, Ardzinba met with de facto President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania. Enhancing the youth political participation in Abkhazia was discussed at the meeting. Young Leaders Contest – „Pride of Abkhazia“, founded by Ardzinba, related issues were discusses as well.
• On May 14, 2021, the de facto President of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, hosted Inal Ardzinba. The issues of youth policy, economy and state management  digitalization, attracting investments in Abkhazia were discussed at the meeting, as well as the creation of a personnel reserve, to timely renew the “Civil Service” personnel with younger effective managers and participants of the Pride of Abkhazia competition .