De-facto Abkhaz leader Aslan Bzhania in his interview with the local TV station on September 19 spoke about the relations with Moscow in the light of the recent cuts in funding to the occupied region by Russia, slamming those who oppose the implementation of the 2014 “treaty on alliance and strategic partnership” with Russia and the “agreements” stemming from it.
Bzhania defended the controversial August 19 protocol of his meeting with Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak, which demanded Abkhazia to fulfill its obligations to Russia. He commented that subsequent to issuance of the protocol “A document was received from the Russian Federation, which states that [from September 1] co-financing of salaries of certain categories of state employees is suspended until the Abkhaz side fulfills the conditions laid down in agreements between Sokhumi and Moscow.”
Asked whether the cuts in Russian funding will affect Abkhazians, he stated that “Suspension of the funding process will certainly affect a large number of citizens of Abkhazia – teachers, health care workers, cultural workers and many others.” He added that the leadership of the region “is engaged in solving this issue.”
Asked why Russia cut the funding Bzhania said this happened because Abkhazia has been avoiding the implementation of the obligations taken vis-a-vis Moscow, which stem from the so-called treaty on alliance and strategic partnership signed by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Raul Khajimba on November 24, 2014. He explained that the “treaty” envisaged “qualitatively new level of interstate relations”, coordinated foreign policy and common defense area, as well as creation of common social- economic area. Noting that “this agreement is in the interest of Abkhazia” he said that Abkhazia “cannot avoid the implementation indefinitely.”
He stressed: “Russia is our only strategic partner, so I am asking since when do we not trust the leadership of Russia?” He added: “The time has come to implement the clauses of this treaty [of 2014], and I, as the highest official who represents our people, will certainly implement all the provisions of this treaty and the agreements stemming from it, among others because it corresponds to the interests of the Abkhaz people.”
He spoke in particular about the so-called agreement on mutual recognition of arbitration court rulings which he said that “opens up opportunities for economic development and investment attraction.” He said that Abkhazia has “an inefficient economy in general” and it has not been able to achieve the level of economic development “that we need in order to solve current issues” specifically noting the problems with attracting investment.
He dismissed any concerns about the risks for Abkhazia resulting from the conclusion of this agreement. “We can only have investments from the Russian Federation, and an investor will come to the country if there are security conditions and guarantees for doing business.” He also noted that currently 90% of construction in the occupied region is carried out at the expense of joint Russian-Abkhazian companies.
Speaking at length about the importance of relations with Russia, “which is our only strategic partner” Bzhania criticized those who maintain that “such agreements are allegedly not in the interests of the Abkhaz” and blamed such rhetoric on “dirty political fighting”.
However, Bzhania noted that he did not see any crisis in relations with Russia, only some minor obstacles.
The de-facto Abkhaz leader described at length the “very difficult circumstances” for Abkhazia, mentioning among others that “Ukraine authorities call on on opposition forces in Georgia to conduct a coup and open the second front”, that “Russian cities are under attack by Ukraine and its allies”, that Abkhazia is “at war with Georgia”, that “there is no non-use of force agreement with Georgia”, and that “Georgia was, is and will be attempting to get back “the Abkhaz territory.”
He concluded that “the only force we rely on is the volition of people of Abkhazia and support of Russia” and slammed those who against this background “create tensions between us and Russia.” He also said that those people who create tensions and don’t trust Russia should give up their Russian passports, and said Russia has the right to strip of its citizenship those who “harm our inter-state relations, who don’t respect the Russian state and attempt to discredit it.”
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