RUSSIA/FILE: Abkhaz president sees Russia as strategic partner and says there will be no contact with current Georgian leadership

Record ID: 722271

  • Title: RUSSIA/FILE: Abkhaz president sees Russia as strategic partner and says there will be no contact with current Georgian leadership
  • Date: 19th February 2010
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FEBRUARY 18, 2009) (REUTERS) (CONTAIN FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) PRESIDENT OF ABKHAZIA BREAKAWAY REGION, SERGEI BAGAPSH, ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA IN ATTENDANCE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRESIDENT OF ABKHAZIA BREAKAWAY REGION, SERGEI BAGAPSH, SAYING: "This base, as you know, will have 1500-1800 people. Resources were allocated for it and we have also determined where it is going to be located. The total amount of people at the base, after all the facilities and houses are built, will be about 3000-3500 people, including families. It is a Russian military base, not joint. And we are not trying to hide any information about it. Everything is open and transparent. And we also have 1200 border guards operating in the Gali region along with 600 Abkhaz border guards." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRESIDENT OF ABKHAZIA BREAKAWAY REGION, SERGEI BAGAPSH, SAYING: "Our budget is approved. It is 4.5 billion. To give you a chance to compare I would like to say that the budget for 2005 was only 400,000 million So it is growing. We receive aid from the Russian Federation, this year it is about 3 billion, most of it will be spent on social programs and industrial development." VIDEO CAMERAS AT CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRESIDENT OF ABKHAZIA BREAKAWAY REGION, SERGEI BAGAPSH, SAYING: "As for the developing of oil resources offshore of the Black Sea, we have signed an agreement with "Rosneft" and we will work in this direction and the first step will be exploration work." BAGAPSH AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRESIDENT OF ABKHAZIA BREAKAWAY REGION, SERGEI BAGAPSH, SAYING: "We will not have any contact with the current Georgian leadership; I mean the parliament, the executive power and the president of Georgia." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAALLQOA7WOGJ76G9Y94NLLK3OG
  • Story Text: Abkhazia's self-styled President Sergei Bagapsh defended an agreement allowing Moscow to build a military base in the breakaway territory on the Black Sea, which was signed in the Kremlin on Wednesday (February 17).
    The agreement was criticised by NATO which called on Russia to reverse the deal, saying it violated the restrictions on military forces stipulated in the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement after the 2008 war.
    Georgia had decried the plans for a land base as illegal and called it part of Moscow's "occupation" campaign.
    "This base, as you know, will have 1500-1800 people," said Sergei Bagapsh at a news conference in Moscow on Thursday (February 18).
    "Resources were allocated for it and we have also determined where it is going to be located. The total amount of people at the base, after all the facilities and houses are built, will be about 3000-3500 people, including families. It is a Russian military base, not joint. And we are not trying to hide any information about it. Everything is open and transparent. And we also have 1200 border guards operating in the Gali region along with 600 Abkhaz border guards," he added.
    The new base is one of several that Russia plans to build on the sliver of land, which is close to NATO member Turkey, in the near future. The others are for airborne troops and the navy.
    Moscow recognised Abkhazia in August 2008 after crushing an assault by U.S. ally Georgia on another pro-Russian breakaway region, South Ossetia, in a five-day war.
    The regions, which broke away from Georgia in bloody wars in the early 1990s, are almost completely dependent on Russia. Unlike smaller, landlocked South Ossetia, Abkhazia rules out joining Russia in the future and is considered by Western analysts as a more viable state than its fellow rebel region. Russia is strengthening its influence in this tiny Caucasus region.
    "Our budget is approved. It is 4.5 billion. To give you a chance to compare I would like to say that the budget for 2005 was only 400,000 million So it is growing. We receive aid from the Russian Federation, this year it is about 3 billion, most of it will be spent on social programs and industrial development," said Sergei Bagapsh, referring to the budget in roubles.
    Russia is the main investor in the Abkhaz economy and has plans to explore and develop the republic's oil reserves.
    "As for the developing of oil resources offshore of the Black Sea, we have signed an agreement with "Rosneft" and we will work in this direction and the first step will be exploration work," said Bagapsh.
    Once a jewel of the Black Sea riviera, Abkhazia hopes to re-establish itself as a hotspot for Russian tourists, creating a potentially valuable source of income. Both economic and military self-sufficiency, however remain a long way off for Abkhazia, whose dependence on Russia is huge and growing, causing some of its 200,000 people to glance uneasily north to their giant former Soviet master. Abkhazia sees Russia as a protector from possible Georgian aggression and does not want to deal with the current Georgian leaders.
    "We will not have any contact with the current Georgian leadership; I mean the parliament, the executive power and the president of Georgia," said Bagapsh.
    Around 8,000 people died and some 200,000 Georgians fled during the 1992-93 war, when newly-independent Georgia sent soldiers and paramilitaries to stamp out Abkhaz calls for secession, only to be pushed back to today's de facto border by Abkhaz militias, backed by Russian forces.
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