Abkhazia Interior Minister agitates for closer relations with Russia
Rapprochement between Abkhazia and Russia
Foreign Minister of Abkhazia Inal Ardzinba is agitating for closer relations with Russia, referring to the words of the first president of the republic.
For the third week already Ardzinba has been traveling around the districts of Abkhazia and holding meetings with the local public, talking about the role of Russia in the development of the republic.
Some explain this uncharacteristic tour of regions as presidential ambition. Others see the reason in Moscow’s dissatisfaction with Abkhazian-Russian relations.
“The Kremlin demanded “explanatory work” with the population and bring to them political information about the benefits of tight integration with the Russian Federation,” Telegram channel “Abkhazia-Center” avers.
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“You and I have Russian passports, we use Russian currency, our borders are protected by Russian border guards. Whose military base ensures our security? The Russian one. This is also a huge amount of money,” the Minister said during a meeting with the activists of Sukhumi district.
And to make his arguments more convincing Inal Ardzinba quoted the words of the first president of Abkhazia, his namesake Vladislav Ardzinba, who said in 2002:
“It is known that the people and leadership of the Republic of Abkhazia have repeatedly declared their desire to establish the closest relations with the Russian Federation, believing that such integration meets the national interests of Abkhazia. The most convenient form of possible relations with Russia could be the model of an associated state. Preserving independence, Abkhazia is ready to build together with Russia its foreign and defense policy, including border protection.”
Inal Ardzinba emphasized that despite the tension in the Abkhaz-Russian dialogue in the 1990s, the first president knew the importance of close relations with the Russian Federation.
However, well-known Abkhazian politician and blogger Akhra Bzhania considers this reference inappropriate:
“I believe that in 2002 Vladislav Ardzinba needed at least a semblance of our legal legitimization, at least some semblance of bilateral dialogue… This is where the myth of “Associated State” came from.
And now what? Can we remember 1978, when we had to ask to join Krasnodar Krai?
History is a dynamic process! Today our status is a sovereign, internationally recognized state. The Foreign Ministry team should work on expanding this status and filling it with new content, rather than traveling around the cities and towns spreading the idea among the citizens of the country that independence is too heavy a burden for them.”
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