Russian base in Abkhazia
Two Russian businessmen presented the deputy head of the Abkhazian presidential administration Zurab Kadzhaya with a Range Rover SUV worth almost 31 million rubles [about $343 thousand]. The video that captured this moment spread in social networks and provoked a scandal. It is assumed that this gift has something to do with the establishment of a Russian military base in the Abkhazian port of Ochamchira.
Russian naval base in Abkhazia: “This is a guarantor of security, and the decision was not made today”
The gift was presented on the street in the center of Sukhum. The footage shows Kadzhaya taking the car keys, addressing one of the businessmen, calling him Valera, and using a cryptic phrase:
“When we go to make a port, then I will tell you, now I won’t say anything.”
Users of social networks not only quickly calculated the price of the car, but also quoted articles of the Russian and Abkhazian civil codes that prescribe what gifts are allowed to be given to government officials.
Thus, according to Russian legislation, civil servants are forbidden to present gifts more expensive than three thousand rubles [about $33].
According to Abkhazian legislation, the value of an acceptable gift for an official is 15 minimum wages, which is 50 thousand rubles [about $553].
So far there have been no official comments on the video and the port mentioned in it either from the presidential administration or from law enforcement agencies. But there were reports in Abkhazian media that the government was discussing changing the status of the Ochamchira seaport from civilian to “dual-purpose”.
Russian base in Abkhazia
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