Why are the authorities of Abkhazia trying to “rename” the opposition as NGOs? Opinion
Abkhazian opposition under fire
Foreign Minister of Abkhazia Inal Ardzinba spoke on the air of the Russian First Channel about the “pernicious” influence of NGOs on Abkhazia. The minister’s words were “illustrated” by footage from a recent opposition rally in front of the presidential palace in Sukhum. The Abkhaz opposition was very outraged by this. But what is behind the minister’s words, and why are the authorities trying to change their attitude towards the opposition through his mouth?
The director of the program presented it like this: look, while we are at war with Ukraine, these NGO-shniks, agents of the West in our friendly Abkhazia, the presidential palace is about to be taken by storm. And Inal Ardzinba in this context looked like a messenger who arrived in Moscow for help.
The Abkhazian opposition did not like being portrayed as an anti-Russian element, and that “the display of this video in the context of statements about NGOs is an outrageous distortion of facts committed by the official Russian media during the video editing.”
In general, they hastened to declare: we are not an NGO, but opposition, and a very loyal one at that to Russia.
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“We openly oppose the policy of the current government of the Republic of Abkhazia and some of its, as we are convinced, thoughtless and harmful initiatives. For example, we oppose the development of apartments in Abkhazia, the privatization of critical energy infrastructure, trade with Georgia and other things that do not meet the long-term interests of the people of Abkhazia.
Moreover, we believe that the promotion of such initiatives only interferes with friendly, partnership relations between the Russian Federation and Abkhazia.
We publicly supported the NVO of Russia and President Vladimir Putin at a rally last year,” writes the opposition veteran organization Aruaa in its address to Russian Ambassador Mikhail Shurgalin.
The degree of naivety of the authors of this appeal is striking. For in the perception of the Russian authorities there is no difference between NGOs and the opposition. Both those and others are unconditional enemies.
Inal Ardzinba, unlike Aruaa, understands this. So every time he appears on the screens of the central Russian channels, the speech necessarily comes to NGOs. He does not talk about the problems that are present in Russian-Abkhaz relations today, but focuses on NGOs.
Many believe that in this way he wants to please the Kremlin, where he began his career, but then disappointed his superiors and was forced to leave his job. This argument has the right to life – the young minister is ambitious and ambitious. But I don’t think that’s his main motive.
The rhetoric of Inal Ardzinba is a message coming from the current Abkhaz authorities. The administration of President Aslan Bzhaniya is on the verge of implementing grandiose economic projects that frighten Abkhaz society. Since behind the adoption of the law on apartments, veiled by removing the ban on the purchase of real estate by foreigners, or behind the intention of denationalization of the energy industry, a threat to the sovereignty of the republic is visible.
It is the unpopularity of these projects in Abkhazian society that is the only reason why they have not yet been launched. The authorities are trying to convince the public that the Kremlin is personally interested in these projects, and in the current geopolitical circumstances, blocking these initiatives is an unfriendly step towards an ally, the guarantor of Abkhazia’s security.
That is, everyone who is against is an anti-Russian element, including the opposition.
However, Moscow has historically not been allergic to the word “Abkhazian opposition”, since the entire local political elite has long been studied by it. Therefore, those who are in power and those who are in opposition enter the Kremlin.
But now this well-established reality, taking advantage of the right moments, is trying to change the administration of Aslan Bzhaniya. For this the old Abkhazian tradition is used, when the bride in the new family is given a middle name: for example, the girl’s maiden name was Asida, and in marriage she became Fatima. With the Abkhazian opposition, the authorities applied the same trick, turning it into an NGO.
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