Ruso tourist image morality

The cheapness of Abkhazian resorts can be quite expensive for Russia. Of course, for any of its citizens individually, the choice of a summer vacation destination is a purely personal matter: freedom of movement is one of the main human rights guaranteed by the constitution. No one can prohibit spending your vacation even in Chechnya - this is, as they say, a matter of taste. However, in the civilized world, the activities of the state as a whole are limited much more strictly than the rights of each of its citizens individually. And the diligent attempts of official Moscow to “not notice” what is happening in Abkhazia will by no means save it from the extremely unpleasant political consequences of the active development of a “promising tourist destination.”

Proclaimed following the bloody Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992-1993. Sukhumi's independence, of course, is still not recognized by anyone in the world. True, official Tbilisi never managed to get its CIS partners to agree to impose a strict economic blockade of the rebellious republic. Nevertheless, the heads of ex-Soviet countries (most of which had to face separatism themselves) agreed to a “soft version” of the blockade. The decision adopted by the Council of Heads of State of the CIS in 1996 ordered that all trade, economic, financial, transport and other operations with Abkhazia be carried out “only in agreement with the government of Georgia.” And until recently, Moscow was forced to take this into account. The only thing that official Tbilisi regularly reproached Russia for was the annual autumn purchases of agricultural products produced in Abkhazia (tangerines, nuts, fruit jams, etc.). However, Moscow countered the accusations against itself by saying that it had formally fulfilled all its obligations: the “tangerine documents” endorsed by the Russian leadership were pedantically transferred through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Georgian side (and whether it agreed with them or not was considered “an internal matter of Georgia”).

The situation with Abkhaz tourism looks much more delicate. Until recently, travel agencies working with this direction preferred not to advertise themselves too much, but already in the spring of this year, at the Moscow International Tourism Exhibition-Fair, walls of operators appeared who did not hide their exclusively “Abkhaz orientation.” The Russian Association of Travel Agencies (RATA), which had previously disowned its colleagues working with Sukhumi in every possible way, seems to have also decided to abandon political correctness, which threatens to reduce its income. If last year RATA President Sergei Shipilko warned that the activities of travel agencies that advertise Abkhazia, but do not warn their clients about the potential danger, “goes beyond the scope of the civilized tourism business” (the reason for such statements was the report of the gang rape of a Russian tourist in Pitsunda), then in the present day, the “Abkhaz problem” does not seem to exist. Although the flow of tourists traveling from Russia to the self-proclaimed republic has increased significantly.

By the way, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports that “in the near future” an agreement will be concluded between Moscow and Tbilisi on the abolition of visa-free travel to each other. After which the vacation of Russians in Pitsunda or Gagra (already very dubious from a legal point of view) will turn into a gross direct violation of international law. After all, official Moscow formally recognizes the territorial integrity of Georgia (including its rebel self-proclaimed republics: Abkhazia and South Ossetia). This means that vacationers in Abkhazia will automatically be considered people who illegally crossed the state border. With all the ensuing criminal consequences.

Yuri GOLOTYUK