Make up, make up, make up

The President of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh arrives in Moscow today. His upcoming visit is already entangled in secrets and intrigue. First, an article appeared in Kommersant, which directly stated that Bagapsh was going to ask the Kremlin for permission to make peace with Georgia. It seems that a plan for the peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, drawn up jointly with Georgia, already exists. And as the first steps, Tbilisi and Sukhumi intend, through the mediation of Moscow, to conclude an agreement on the non-use of force, providing for the return of Georgian refugees to Abkhazia and the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the upper part of the Kodori Gorge. According to the newspaper, this agreement was reached as a result of the visit of Georgian representative to the UN Irakli Alasania to Sukhumi on May 12. The publication also quotes the head of the Abkhaz Foreign Ministry, Sergei Shamba, who said that in Sukhumi, Irakli Alasania actually discussed “a document on how to resolve the most controversial issues in relations” between Georgia and Abkhazia. “At the bilateral level, we have agreed in principle on the main issues, but a number of details remain,” Shamba noted.

As soon as this joyful message appeared in the Russian media, Bagapsh denied it. He said on Monday that there are no agreements with Georgia on a peaceful resolution of the conflict. “We once again voiced our principled position, which is that Georgia must withdraw its troops from the upper part of the Kodori Gorge of Abkhazia and after that we will be ready to conclude an agreement guaranteeing the non-resumption of hostilities. Once again I want to repeat that questions of the political status of Abkhazia as an independent state is not subject to discussion,” Bagapsh said. According to him, the upcoming visit is in no way connected with “any agreements with Georgia,” and he is going to discuss “issues of an economic nature related to the implementation of the well-known instructions of the Russian President on Abkhazia and South Ossetia.” Simply put, ask for money.