Everyone in Georgian separatist region to get Russian passports

Agence France Presse — English
August 17, 2005 Wednesday 1:34 PM GMT

MOSCOW Aug 17 — Everyone living in Abkhazia, a Russian-backed
separatist region of ex-Soviet Georgia, will have a Russian passport
within a year, the rebel president said Wednesday in Moscow.

“We need six months to a year for everyone in Abkhazia to become
Russian citizens,” Sergei Bagapsh told journalists.

Already an estimated 84 percent of people in Abkhazia carry Russian
passports and 70 percent of pensioners receive Russian pensions.

Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to regain control
over the Black Sea province, which broke away in a war following a
unilateral declaration of independence in 1992.

Russia officially recognises Georgian sovereignty in Abkhazia, but
Tbilisi accuses Moscow of backing, arming and financing the rebels.

Almost half the pre-war residents of Abkhazia were ethnic-Georgians,
most of whom fled along with retreating government forces. The
remaining population consists of ethnic-Abkhaz, Armenians and Russians.

The war also devastated the Abkhaz economy, which survives almost
entirely on tourism from Russia.