TINY ABKHAZIA SINKS INTO RUSSIA’S SMOTHERING EMBRACE
By Alexander Osipovich, in Sukhumi for AFP
Daily Telegraph
12:05PM GMT 10 Dec 2009
UK
Its leader may insist that Abkhazia is an independent republic but on
the eve of elections many contend that the region has merely swapped
Georgian control for Russian domination.
A fisherman is silhouetted near the Russian border with Abkhazia. It
is located in a spectacular natural setting with snow-capped peaks
of the Caucasus mountains overlooking gentle shores of the Black Sea.
Photo: EPA Abkhazia – which broke away from Tbilisi’s control in a
civil war after the collapse of the Soviet Union – is still viewed
by most states as a rebel part of Georgia which is illegally occupied
by Russian forces.
"Unfortunately they don’t understand us in the West. Because we have
good relations with Russia, they think we are a Russian puppet,"
said Sergei Bagapsh, the president of Abkhazia’s separatist government.
Swap the cotton wool for a mud pie"Russia doesn’t have any particular
need to influence or annex Abkhazia…. We are the ones who need them,
to preserve ourselves, because of Georgia."
Still, Russia’s growing influence is unmistakable in Abkhazia,
a scenic strip of land along the Black Sea that is home to 216,000
people and famed for its beaches and subtropical climate.
On the road leading to the separatist capital Sukhumi, billboards show
Bagapsh with the Russian president, Dmitrii Medvedev, and slogans like
"Abkhazia and Russia: together forever!"
The road itself is being repaired with Russian government aid,
and this year it helped bring 1.5 million tourists to Abkhazia,
the overwhelming majority of whom were Russian.
Russia’s smothering embrace has led some people in this small territory
to question whether Abkhazia, after shaking off Georgian rule, is
now threatened with domination by its giant neighbour to the north.
On Saturday, Abkhazia is due to hold a presidential election in which
a key issue is whether Bagapsh has become too close to Moscow.
The opposition has criticised several deals that Bagapsh signed over
the past year, including one handing control over Abkhazia’s main
railroad to a Russian state-owned company for the next 10 years.
"Economically, Abkhazia is gradually turning into a subsidised region
of Russia," said Astamur Tania, a spokesman for Zaur Ardzinba, one
of three opposition candidates seeking to unseat Bagapsh.
Bagapsh called such complaints "pure politics" and said the deals were
necessary to repair Abkhazia’s infrastructure, which was badly damaged
in the 1992-93 war in which the region broke free of Georgia’s control.
Abkhazia has few places to turn for help besides Russia. The region
is only recognised as independent by Russia and two faraway Latin
American countries, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Still, it takes itself very seriously as a self-ruling state, issuing
visas to foreign visitors, flying its flag at official buildings and
lovingly maintaining monuments to its 1992-93 war of "independence."
Abkhazia is on a quixotic quest to convince more countries to extend
it diplomatic recognition, particularly Latin American states with
Left-wing governments friendly to Moscow.
"We are searching for countries with a degree of independence from
the United States," said Sergei Shamba, the Abkhaz foreign minister.
"That is why we sent delegations to Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador
and to Middle Eastern countries where we have a diaspora.
Abkhazia is also keen to show off its upcoming election as evidence
that it is a democratic state ready to join the international
community.
Sukhumi was plastered with campaign posters and opposition candidates
spoke regularly on local television this week, adding weight to
Abkhazia’s claims of being a vibrant democracy.
But critics say that it is only a democracy for ethnic Abkhaz, while
other groups are marginalised.
Under the region’s constitution, only ethnic Abkhaz can become
president, even though they make up fewer than half the population,
with the rest an eclectic mix of Armenians, Georgians, Russians
and others.
"It is a democracy, but a very skewed democracy," said Nicu Popescu,
an analyst for the European Council on Foreign Relations.
"There are surprisingly high levels of pluralism…. But at the same
time this pluralism is mainly for just a certain number of people."
Bagapsh denied that Abkhazia was undemocratic, saying that non-Abkhaz
were welcome to vote and enter the government and parliament, just
not the presidency.
"We want to set up the kind of system within the country that will
make people in the West and elsewhere understand that we are people
you can and should do business with," the Abkhaz leader said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
