Abkhazia lifts ban on travel to Georgia imposed over protest in Tbilisi

Abkhazia lifts Georgia travel ban

Abkhazia has lifted its ban on travel to Georgia introduced due to protests in Tbilisi. The ban was in effect for only three days.

The Abkhazian government did not want ethnic Georgians from the Gali region of Abkhazia to take part in the protest of the Georgian opposition scheduled for April 9 in Tbilisi. The State Security Service of Abkhazia reported that on April 7, 2023, it introduced “a restriction on the departure of residents of Abkhazia to Georgia in order to minimize the participation of residents of Abkhazia in destructive actions on the territory of a neighboring state.”

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Recently the authorities of Abkhazia have been discussing the threat of a “second front” and the start of a new Georgian-Abkhazian war. For example, at the end of March, President Aslan Bzhaniya said that if power is changed in Georgia by force, then whoever replaces Georgian Dream would try to solve the Abkhazian problem by military means.

Abkhazia lifts Georgia travel ban