Russia to fund road repairs in Abkhazia’s Kodori Gorge for new tourist hub

Russia invests in Abkhazia’s infrastructure

Russia will fund repairs to the road in Abkhazia’s Kodori Gorge to make it more attractive to tourists.

The work is part of a socio-economic aid programme to repair and restore the street and road network in Abkhazian towns, for which Moscow will allocate 1 billion roubles (about $12.6 million) from the federal budget.

Repairs to Abkhazia's promenade will be funded by Russian city budgets

Renovation starts October 1 and lasts until May 2026, funded by twin cities – Moscow, Ufa, Kazan, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod – and Abkhaz diaspora businessmen in Russia

The Kodori Gorge lies high in the mountains along the upper reaches of the Kodori River in north-eastern Abkhazia.

In the Soviet period, it was under the administration of the Abkhaz ASSR.

During the 1992–93 Georgian–Abkhaz war, the gorge became a battleground between Abkhaz and Georgian forces and ultimately came under Georgian control.

Under the 1994 ceasefire agreement signed by both sides, the Kodori Gorge was to be regularly patrolled by peacekeepers and UN observers. However, its remote location made patrols ineffective, and incidents continued to occur there.

Following the August 2008 war, Abkhazia regained control of the Kodori Gorge.

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Abkhaz authorities are seeking to make the republic’s eastern region — which lags far behind the west in socio-economic development — more attractive for investment. Repairing the Kodori Gorge road is part of that plan, with a mountain tourism hub set to be created in the area.

The decision to renovate the road was made during a visit to Abkhazia by Kremlin envoy Sergey Kiriyenko, a senior official in the Russian presidential administration.

Under the programme, the first phase of reconstruction will begin in 2025 and is due to be completed by December 2026. The cost of this stage is estimated at 205.5 million roubles (about $2.6 million).

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Russia invests in Abkhazia’s infrastructure