Opinion: What new president of Abkhazia failed to mention in his meeting with Putin
Gunba-Putin meeting
On March 5, a meeting took place in the Kremlin between newly elected Abkhazian President Badra Gunba and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the meeting, Gunba requested that Putin:
- Provide Abkhazia with additional free electricity until mid-April;
- Establish a mechanism allowing Abkhazian citizens to obtain a second, Russian passport;
- Maintain the ability for Abkhazians to enter Russia using Abkhazian driver’s licenses (a regulation set to be revoked on April 1).
Putin promised to fulfill all three requests.
However, not everyone in Abkhazia was satisfied. Well-known Abkhazian publicist and blogger Dmitry Mushba, for instance, believes that Badra Gunba should have addressed other issues during his Kremlin meeting.
Dmitry Mushba:
Three things I wish the president of Abkhazia had raised at the Kremlin meeting::
- There have never been, are not, and cannot be anti-Russian sentiments in Abkhazia—except for those instigated by incompetent political adventurers who have seized power.
- Stripping Abkhazian opposition politicians, public figures, and cultural figures of their Russian citizenship and deporting them would not be a positive step—neither for relations between our countries nor for fostering unity within Abkhazian society, which is critically important for us right now.
- Due to the incomparable scale of the two countries and the resulting asymmetry in integration processes, their implementation can only be mutually beneficial if the right pace of development is chosen. The rush to capitalize on vast financial opportunities in a short period through massive investment projects—disproportionate to Abkhazia’s scale—could lead not only to inefficient resource use but also to the collapse of small and medium-sized businesses, which form the backbone of Abkhazia’s economy. This, in turn, could become a catalyst for social unrest and new political crises.
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