Maidan for Sukhumi

What is common and what is the difference between the protests of the opposition in Abkhazia and in Ukraine?

The president of the self -proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia Alexander Ankvab said that the country "an attempt by a coup." On Tuesday in the center of Sukhumi, the mass rally of the opposition was held, whose participants sought the resignation of the government, the Prosecutor General and the heads of the eastern regions of Abkhazia. After Ankvab refused to reach the demonstrators, they occupied the building of the presidential administration, forcing the head of an unrecognized state to leave Sukhumi to Gudauta. Experts see in what is happening a "Ukrainian trace." Firstly, after the annexation of Crimea, the opposition began to demand from the authorities of Abkhazia closer integration with Russia. Secondly, the reason for discontent was, as in Ukraine, the president’s reluctance to share authority and listen to the opinion of the people and local authorities.

Protests against the policy of the questionnaire began a year ago due to the discontent of a part of the inhabitants of the republic by the fact that in the east of Abkhazia people receive Abkhaz passports without abandoning the citizenship of Georgia . However, over the past time, dissatisfaction with the policies of the ankvab has grown and has spread to a wider range of issues, ”says the Abkhaz journalist, editor -in -chief of the newspaper Chegemskaya Pravda Inal Hashig :

- This story began about a year ago. The opposition raised the noise about how the certification of the eastern part of Abkhazia was taking place in those areas where the Georgian population lives. The opposition then considered that the current legislation on citizenship, according to which citizens of Abkhazia did not have the right to have a second Georgian citizenship. Many residents of the districts border with Georgia, ethnic Georgians, had it, they did not particularly hide it, but they calmly received Abkhaz passports. At first, the opposition’s struggle for the settlement of this situation went in parliament. A parliamentary commission was created, the prosecutor’s office took up the investigation. In April 2014, a consensus was reached. There were several points in the agreement. Passport commissions that were created in the three eastern regions of Abkhazia (Ochamchirsky, Tkuarchal and Galsky) and through their fingers looked at the Georgian citizenship of those who receive Abkhaz passports should have been disbanded, and their actions were recognized as illegal. Already issued passports were recognized only as an identity card, citizenship on them was temporarily confirmed until the process of replacing passports with documents of a new sample passes. The seal of these passports has already begun, it was assumed that when they are issued, the issue with each applicant would already be carefully studied - a second Georgian citizenship has a person or not.

Also, in the compromise agreement of the opposition and presidential supporters in the parliament, there was a clause at which deputies unanimously appealed to the president with a request to resign the heads of the administrations of the districts, where the illegal issuance of passports was carried out, as well as the resignation of the Prosecutor General, who was supposed to initially control this situation. However, the president ignored this decision of the parliament. Then the conflict began to gain momentum, and already in early May the opposition tightened its demands, demanding the resignation of the government itself and the creation of the "government of popular trust" until May 5. But the president refused it. Then the opposition already announced that at the end of May it planned the gathering of its supporters. And yesterday it happened. After the rally, the opposition leaders conducted long negotiations with Alexander Ankvab and seemed to have come to an agreement that the president was resigning the government, prosecutor general and two chapters of the administration. But they simply did not manage to transfer all this to the paper, because supporters of the opposition had already broken into the building of the presidential palace. The president himself retreated with protection from the black entrance and drove towards Gudauta.

The speaker of the parliament Valery Bganba took over the mission of the intermediary, met an hour after these events with the leader of the opposition Raul Hadjimbo , tried to find some compromise, but Khadimba said that after what happened, the people did not want any compromise. In the evening, Bganba still met with the president, and on Wednesday the emergency session of the parliament was supposed to take place. Supporters of the current president silently boycotted this meeting , there was no quorum on it, and this afternoon they are going to their rally on the embankment near the seaport (in addition to this rally, another “folk gathering” of the opposition - approx. RS) also took place in Sukhumi) .

- Is Moscow involved in the opposition’s protests in Abkhazia, because one of the opposition’s requirements is closer integration with Russia?

-No, I think that this is still an internal problem, although claims about the illegal certification of the inhabitants of the East of the Republic were only an occasion, but not the main reason. The main reason is a difficult domestic political situation in the country, due to both a high level of corruption and the poor state of the economy, when the country's budget is 75% subsidized by Moscow, the president’s refusal from any reforms in which the country needs almost all areas. Moreover, these reforms expected him. In reality, in this story there is no external factors of influence. Now neither in

The main reason for the protests is a difficult situation in the country, due to both a high level of corruption and the poor state of the economy, when the country's budget is 75% subsidized by Moscow

Moscow, no one here needs any confrontations, especially since all the political forces of Abkhazia, the entire Abkhaz elite, one way or another, is oriented towards Moscow. To arrange something here, to make a specific bet on someone is stupid enough. Surely now, all the actions of Moscow will be cautious enough and may be reduced to the arrival of Vladislav Surkov and Rashid Nurgaliev expected today, who officially oversee Abkhazia in the Kremlin (as a result, only Surkov visited Abkhazia - approx. RS) . They will try to look for some compromise solutions and will become intermediaries between the president and the opposition, ”said Inal Hashig , the Abkhaz journalist, editor-in-chief of the Chegemskaya Pravda newspaper.

Islam Beroshev , the editor -in -chief of the Caucasian Time site, notes that the annexation of Crimea was the catalyst for protest moods in Abkhazia, and the protests in Sukhumi and the Kiev Maidan unites people's discontent to consult with society and local authorities when making decisions:

- On the one hand, the Abkhaz public widely supported the annexation of Crimea, on the other hand, Crimean events provoked this "folk gathering". The Crimean precedent activated the domestic political processes in Abkhazia, which began long before today. Against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis in Abkhazia, the new weight gained the ideas of integration with Russia. Now the Abkhaz project was in a certain impasse: having received recognition from Russia, the republic was in the "hedgehog embrace". External contacts of Abkhazia are limited to the peacekeeping missions of the UN and other international organizations, and then through mediation of Russia. And a significant part of the Society of Abkhazia at the same time requires the implementation of the state project in full. These issues are separated by Abkhaz society today, this creates the ground for civil unrest, and in many ways this situation led to the "Abkhazian Maidan". The results of the hundredth of 2013 indicate that 58% of the inhabitants of Abkhazia are expressed for maintaining independence, 28% - for joining Russia.

The Crimean precedent activated domestic political processes in Abkhazia. Against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis and annexation of Crimea, the ideas of integration with Russia gained a new weight

- Is it possible to say that it is the question of the future of relations with Russia that is now the main watershed between supporters and opponents of the President of Abkhazia Alexander Ankvab?

- These processes have a long history. Prior to the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia, more than 70% of the inhabitants, and from among representatives of all ethnic groups, spoke out for independence. Today, this figure is becoming smaller every year. There was a neutral group that sees the Abkhaz project as an independent state, but building relations with different countries, including European, with Turkey, with the CIS. After the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia from Russia, public requests in the republic itself changed. The most important question - security from Georgia - left the agenda. There was a request for the modernization of a society to which the authorities did not respond. But we must take into account the fact that the state slows down this modernization largely due to the fact that the leading elites are limited in their actions by strong dependence on Moscow.

- How strong in protest moods is the share of dissatisfaction with corruption in the highest echelons of power, as was it in Ukraine? Are such claims to Alexander Ankvabu?

In Ukraine and in Abkhazia, the situation is similar in that the leading elites were not considered the opinion of the masses and did not make concessions

- Ankvabu is charged with many sins. One of the factors is not in its favor is the irrational use of financial resources allocated by Russia to restore infrastructure after the war. A lot of money was spent on the construction of stadiums, on some image projects, and not for hospitals or schools. In this regard, the main accusation of the opposition is that Alexander Ankvab made decisions on the implementation of these projects, regardless of the opinions of areas, municipalities who know better, what to spend money on. In Ukraine and in Abkhazia, the situation is similar in that the leading elites were not considered the opinion of the masses and did not consider it necessary to make concessions in the issues of reforming the Constitution, in issues of reforming the regional management. In this regard, of course, the situation is very similar, ”says Islam Terroshev , editor -in -chief of the Caucasian Time site.

Alexander Ankvab was elected President of Abkhazia in August 2011 . The elections were scheduled for the death of the former leader Sergei Bagapsha, in which in 2008 the republic proclaimed independence. The current leader of the opposition Raul Hadjimba in the 2011 elections scored a little less than 20 percent of votes.

The Georgian authorities have already reacted to yesterday and today's events in Abkhazia. The First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia David Zalkaliani told reporters that the Foreign Ministry "carefully monitors the events in Sukhumi" and "discusses them with representatives of the" Geneva process "and the leaders of the European Union." Ketevan Kichelashvili , Deputy State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civil Equality, in turn, said that Tbilisi hopes that the events in Sukhumi would end peacefully and will not negatively affect the situation of the inhabitants of the Galsky and Ochamchirsky regions. "