Kremlin is seeking a loyal confidant within the Abkhazian opposition – Zurab Shengelia

InterPressNews sat down with Zurab Shengelia, Head of the Georgian-Abkhazian Institute, to talk regarding the Abkhazian oppositions’ rebellion against the so called Abkhazian Government.

-- Mr. Anakvab has labeled the current going-on in the Abkhazia region as a ‘coup attempt’. In your opinion, actually, what could have actuated the Abkhazian opposition?

-- In order to answer the question you pose, I will have to look back across the bygone years and cast a glance at the recent past. As you know, Russia has adopted a new instrument – “a parade of referendums” -- to materialize its intensions. Russia rushed into Crimea and held a referendum there by force. And the outcome of the aforementioned referendum that had allowed Russia to annex Crimea was recognized by the Russian top official only. Despite the fact that Russia has not taken its cue from the referendum results while taking actions in Donetsk and Luhansk, this period marked the start of a new interesting phase within the Russian-Abkhazian relations.

Approximately two months ago, a meeting with the Abkhazian-Russian Friendship group was held in Moscow. A paramount announcement saying a decision on Abkhazia’s integration with Russia had been decided and was issued at this meeting. Then something immensely interesting happened as soon as this statement was released. One of the members of the auditorium stood up on his feet and posed the following question to the announcer: could you tell me who came to this decision without us? Why was this decision made at all?

-Would you tell us who that man was?

-- If you let me I would like to leave his name mystery. I cannot name him here and now. After the aforementioned meeting, immensely interesting events unfolded in Abkhazia. The situation here came to a boiling point on May 27; in parallel to these developments, as many as 26 thousand Georgians in Abkhazia were stripped of their Abkhazian citizenship. However, they have been left with the right to reinstate their citizenship through court. Only God knows when this process will be launched though.

In addition to the above-mentioned, Taras Shamba has made a statement as per which formalizing its associate relations with Russia would have been beneficial for Abkhazia. The region has already built up ties with Russia, however, an agreement that is to be finalized between “Abkhazia’s state” and the Federation of Russia is what is at issue today. The aforementioned statement has sparked a discrepancy from the Abkhazian people. As far as I am concerned, their move to strip the Georgian people of Abkhazian citizenship and make them forfeit their right to take part in the elections has been prompted by the potential prospects of the referendum on formalizing the associate relations between Russia and Abkhazia. Georgians as well as Abkhazians will always be against developing closer ties with Russia. They are moved by a strong desire to mend ties with each other. The Abkhazian Nationalist Movement strongly supports this idea; they think that the fact that Georgians in Abkhazia have lost their Abkhazian citizenship plays into the hands of Russia; they are well-aware of the fact that if a referendum is convened they will lose the battle. However, in this very period, one of the top advisers of Vladimir Putin, Vladislav Surkov, paid a visit to Abkhazia and within his visit he announced that the association agreement has never become a subject of discussions in Russia. Mr. Surkov tried to pacify some Abkhazian political powers. In this very period an important thing happened – about which I have never talked before. I am totally responsible for my words as per which a man who has fully comprehended the threats their move to strip the Geli locals of their passports and deprive them of their right to vote can pose both to Abkhazians and Georgians. They have realized that no matter how deep the gap is between Abkhazians and Georgians this decision does not fall within their interests. And this man who left Sokhumi for Tbilisi has loudly called us for assistance. He begs us to put aside all other issue, to disregard a tensed atmosphere between us and with joint efforts try to iron a solution out for this immensely acute issue. They fear that if the relations between Russia and Abkhazia are further cultivated, Russia will consume them like it has swallowed Crimea. And this prospect is definitely unattractive for both Georgia and Abkhazia.

- So, do you think that the current goings-on in Abkhazia are fueled by Russia’s desire to finalize an association agreement with the region?

- A rather vast majority of the Abkhazians believes that their move to strip the Gali locals of their Abkhazian citizenship will remove all obstacles from Russia’s path, and after this holding a referendum and sewing up the association agreement with Abkhazia will be a piece of cake for the Russian leader. The same thing is a pretext in the hands of pro-Russian powers to rebel against President Anakvab. Via these powers, Russia will easily seize Abkhazia. Russia’s most bizarre step is its desire to label Mr. Khajimba as the leader of the opposition, while this is far from the truth. While giving the names of the opposition leaders, they have even omitted Stanislav Lakoba, who has organized the recently held protest rallies against the de-facto President of Abkhazia.

-- Could you explain to us what must have made the Russian’s misrepresent the truth while focusing on the opposition leaders?

-- Precisely this is why President Putin’s personal representative in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Vladislav Surkov, and the Deputy Security Council Secretary of the Russian Federation, Rashid Nurgaliev, arrived in Sokhumi for a working visit. Surkov met only Khajimba; this clearly points to the fact that he is searching for a bulwark in the opposition members. The aforementioned facts give us a foundation to deduce that Russia is “trying Abkhazia’s soil” and is doing everything in its power to grab this land in the future.

- In your mind, when it comes to the association agreement between Abkhazia and Russia what kind of positions do Mr. Anakvab and the so-called opposition leader Mr. Khajimba, hold?

-- I would like to point out that Mr. Anakvab was the only presidential candidate who raised the issue of potential cultivation of Abkhazian-Georgian relations. Unlike Sergei Shamba and Raul Khajimba, he was guided with such maxims as whether or not others like this, Abkhazia must be involved in constant dialogues with its neighbor states. However, as time has told us, Sokhumi wants cooperation with Georgia for one purpose only – to deter Russia from annexing the Abkhazia region. Only on this particular occasion do they want the Gali locals to side with them.

As for the positions held by Mr. Anakvab and Khajimba, I cannot really expand on the former’s current position. As soon as Mr. Anakvab came to power, Russia started to pile pressure on him; the President was repeatedly reprimanded because of the fact that he sent the sick Abkhazian children to Tbilisi for treatment. And this pressure on Anakvab was rather unexpected then. I remember a comment which he issued over the matter and which said: I cannot forbid our ill children to undergo treatment in Tbilisi, especially when we are unable to provide them with due aid here, in Abkhazia. Whether this way or that, I do think that the Abkhazian President has failed to normalize relations with Georgia and fight against Russia.

- Has Mr. Anakvab ever attempted to do this?

-- He has definitely put this issue on his presidential agenda.

- While in office, he has never released such a statement though …

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I agree with your words saying that the Abkhazian leader has never released this statement publicly. In my opinion, he could not have even taken this step; however, when he was put into power, the Georgian and Abkhazian people were provided with much more realistic opportunities to broaden relations with each other. Many more Abkhazians visited Tbilisi in those days as these people faced fewer problems while crossing the Abkhazian-Georgian border.

-- So, can we deduce from the aforementioned that the powers that are against cultivation of Abkhazian-Georgian relations are grappling with Mr. Anakvab today?

-- Definitely, they are also fighting against him.

- A political group opposing Anakvab today are mainly the political heirs of Ardzinba, to define this more precisely, his core opposing powers are being consolidated around this group …

- I would not say so; however, your words do ring true. First of all, I would like to say that Ardzinba and Khajimba are not really a far cry from each other. As I have already mentioned, they want to flaunt Mr. Khajimba as the opposition leader, while the organizer of the rally, Stanislav Akomba, has been sidelined. It’s obvious that Moscow strains to assume control on the ongoing political processes in Abkhazia. And Mr. Lakoba who has initiated to strip the Gali locals of their Abkhazian passports does not clearly fit with their plan. And against this background, Surkov declared that neither of the parties desires to rethink the relations with Russia, and the latter does not care who will preside over Abkhazia.

-- Could you predict the future developments that Surkov and Nugaliev’s visit to Sokumi can entail?

- In my opinion, Russia strives for hiding the fact that precisely Taras Shanba’s statement was the last straw that heightened tensions in Abkhazia. The Russian leader is also endeavoring to downgrade the importance of Abkhazia’s clear-cut negative attitude to Russia’s move to hold referendums in the region whenever he wants.

- Could we state that Anakvab’s position over formalizing associate relations with Russia can be of decisive importance? Can this finally determine Anakvab’s fate?

- This would be a very simple vision. The Kremlin has not shown any clear-cut position over the ongoing developments in Abkhazia as they occurred rather unexpectedly. Neither in the South Ossetia, nor in Transnistria have they countered Russia as intensely as here, in Abkhazia.

By the way, the Abkhazian law-enforcers have given their vote of confidence to Anakvab, and Mr. Nurgaliev has arrived in Abkhazia to find out how strong their support to the Abkhazian President is.

Plus, a very healthy and robust power is within the Abkhazian people today. And precisely the present developments in Abkhazia will put these powers to the test and reveal how strong and healthy they are. I would also like to underscore that the old political powers have become rather unattractive for the Abkhazian people; and the people’s mandate today is new blood within the existing political parties. Russia, obviously, wants the newly emerged power to be pro-Russian.

- You are engaged in relations with different strata of society in Abkhazia. How fruitful and promising are these relations?

- We went into partnership with the Abkhazian people 15 years ago. We do know what kind of political processed take place here; we are not active participants of these processes though. We are still partially involved in them. And some powers in Abkhazia are moved by a desire to broaden these relations.

- We have kept an eye on the ongoing political processes in Abkhazia; we have not spotted these powers though …

- These powers are being formed in Abkhazia right now. And I do think that their recently taken step and their call to put our heads together to resolve the problem connected with Russia is an immensely good step from them.

- In your opinion, are these powers only fighting against Russia’s move to illegally strip the Gali locals of their passports? Don’t they want to return the Georgian population to Abkhazia?

- No, they have not focused only on Gali locals. Since Georgian Diaspora was actuated in Abkhazia, the north part of Abkhazia has been occupied by the Georgians; and thus, they do not want to deal only with the issue of the residents of Gali.

- A far as I am concerned, they have not formed a common position with regard to Georgians return to Abkhazia; Moreover, for the Georgians returning to Abkhazia is difficult to imagine …

- Whether this way or that, they have realized that the do need Georgians, and they incrementally have started talks regarding this topic. The present Status Quo in Abkhazia directly points to this fact; and I would be immensely glad if our Government would thoroughly analyze the issue of Abkhazia and take intense interest in it; especially today when the Abkhazian people have expressed their desire to move closer to us.

Koba Bendeliani

InterPressNews