Georgia’s de facto Abkhazia announces new deal with Moscow over “permanent naval base”

Aslan Bzhania, the de facto President of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, on Thursday told Izvestia paper he had signed a “new agreement” with Moscow over the deployment of Russia’s permanent naval military base in the region’s Ochamchire city. 

In his comments, Bzhania claimed the new naval base would be deployed “in the near future”, and also called the current Georgian authorities “pragmatic”. 

“It seems to me that the current leadership of Georgia, I mean the Prime Minister and his team, not the President of Georgia, are pragmatic people, and from this point of view, there have not been any major problems. But sometimes it happens that not so much Georgian as American reconnaissance planes violate the airspace. We know it. But it is clear that this intelligence is carried out in the interests of the armed forces of the US and, to a certain extent, in the interests of Georgia as well”, he said. 

In his response, Gia Volski, the Vice Speaker in the Georgian Parliament, said “no formal deals” existed between the de facto region and Russia, and that the latter was taking actions to “gather strength” and retain its power in the South Caucasus region. 

He also accused the former United National Movement Government of “handover of the 20 percent of Georgia’s territories to Russia” through the 2008 conflict, as well as the country’s “strategic facilities”, and stressed the Georgian Dream Government was “obliged” to ensure peace in the country.