Protests in Abkhazia, or how Russia will kill everyone, rob everyone they want

Exclusive. Mass protests continue in the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia due to the detention of opposition representatives who opposed the adoption of an investment agreement with Russia. The Abkhazian opposition criticized the document. For example, ex-Minister of Economy Adgur Ardzinba said that the agreement "will give the oligarchs immense benefits and the green light to sell off Abkhazia."

Dictator Putin with ex-Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Alexander Tkachev

Protesters began to gather in the evening of November 11 at the building of the State Security Service (SGB) in Sukhumi, demanding the release of the activists brought there. As the local tg channels write, people gathered for the action "from all over Abkhazia." Between the supporters of the opposition and the security forces, fights periodically arose, the protesters tried to break into the territory, ramming the gate with a car. Protesters also blocked the central highway and three bridges at the exits from Sukhuma — Kodorsky, Verkhnegumistinsky, and Nizhnegumistinsky.

President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhaniya held an emergency meeting of the Security Council. The Secretary of the Security Council, Raul Lolua, loudly declared that the actions taken by the opposition "are of a criminal nature." The head of the State Security Service, Dmitry Kuchberia, called what happened at the SGB building "mass disturbances".

The chairman of the opposition party "Forum of People's Unity of Abkhazia", ​​Aslan Bartsits, announced the detention of five opposition activists, including Omar Smyr, ex-deputies of parliament Garry Kokaya, Almaskhan Ardzinba, Ramaz Jopua and Aslan Gvaramiya. "They were returning from a public meeting in the Gudaut district dedicated to the recently signed Russian-Abkhazian agreement on investment activity, they were detained," he said.

Bartsits considers it a politically motivated persecution. However, the authorities claim that the oppositionists were detained for "illegal actions". "A group of people in the courtyard of the parliament building of the Republic of Abkhazia committed illegal actions against a member of the parliament, accompanied by obscene language," said the Prosecutor General of Abkhazia, Adgur Agrba.

At the end of October, the Minister of Economic Development of Russia, Maksym Reshetnikov, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Abkhazia, Christina Ozgan, signed an agreement allowing Russian companies to implement investment projects in the region. To enter into force, the document must be ratified in the Abkhaz parliament. On November 15, the day of consideration of this issue, the opposition intended to hold protests demanding the cancellation of the agreement.

The local business in the territory occupied by Russia strongly criticized the agreement. The general director of one of the largest Abkhaz companies, Aquafon, called the agreement a "scam": in his opinion, the Abkhaz side will suffer losses. "In this scheme, I see only one affected party - it is Abkhazia," he emphasized. The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia called the agreement mutually beneficial. In short, the document allows Russian business to enter the economy of Abkhazia with an investment threshold of 2 billion rubles (about $200), at which the next 20 years this same business will be exempt from any taxes on the territory of Abkhazia.

TV channel "Agency. Novosti" writes that the deputy of the Abkhaz parliament, Daut Khutaba, called the Russian holding Mantera Group the "main ideological inspirer" of the agreement. It belongs to Andrey Skok, who is called the manager of the assets of the family of the former head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Alexander Tkachev.

Earlier, in August, the minutes of the meeting of the deputy head of the administration of the President of Russia Dmitry Kozak with Aslan Bzhania appeared on social networks. It said that the Russian side would suspend the transfer of financial aid to Abkhazia from the beginning of September until it fulfilled its obligations. Abkhazia undertook to: ratify the agreement on mutual recognition of judicial and arbitration decisions on economic matters; ensure the entry into force of the agreement on the implementation of investment projects by Russian legal entities in Abkhazia; remove restrictions for Russian investors in the commercial real estate market.

The propagandist Tatarsky spoke most precisely about Russia's plans regarding the captured territories of other states. "We will kill everyone, we will rob everyone we need. Everything will be as we like," he said on September 30, 2022 in the Kremlin after dictator Putin signed agreements on the inclusion of the occupied Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into the Russian Federation. And this applies not only to Ukraine, whose total value of the resource base of minerals, according to the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, is estimated at about $14,8 trillion, but also to Georgia.

Perovskaya