Aslan Bzhania defends the crucial importance of the relationship with Russia and warns that the “statehood” of the republic is in danger
Nov. 17 () –
The president of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, has once again reached out to the opposition that has been entrenched since Friday in the Parliament of the capital, Sukhumi, and defended the importance of relations with Russia, the epicenter of the crisis. unleashed 48 hours ago by protests against an agreement that favors Russian investments in the territory.
Russia is the only country in the world that officially recognizes Abkhazia, which declared independence from Georgia after a war in the early 1990s that ended without a peace agreement. Moscow has since acted as the republic’s sole financial supporter. The president has been in Tamish, his hometown, since Friday, where he has offered a way out of this crisis: his resignation and the calling of elections — which he would run for — if those he describes as “coup plotters” leave Parliament.
“We are not yet facing an irreparable situation. We all have to give ourselves a break and start thinking, because we are talking about the possibility of ending up losing our statehood,” he said in an interview with the official Abkhaz agency, Apsnypress, published this Sunday. in which he has assured that he has no intention of asking for help from Russia (which on the other hand has publicly ignored the crisis, which he considers an internal issue) or resorting to the security forces to defuse the crisis.
“We have resistance, we have patience and we will work in this direction for now,” the president explained before emphasizing that “any forceful solution, like the one that the Abkhazian opposition seems to prefer, will only lead to more instability, economic losses and a humanitarian crisis.” “.
Regarding the criticism of Russia, the president has asked the “coup plotters”, as he once again described the opponents, to do a memory exercise. “Russia is our only strategic partner, we must remember all the help it has given us and keep in mind that it will be very difficult to build our own state without its support,” he indicated.
Meanwhile, the so-called Coordination Council that brings together the opposition to the president remains in the presidential offices of Parliament, drawing up plans to form a possible acting government, and has begun to clean its surroundings of the debris left by Friday’s altercations. Supporters on the street have also begun to remove the metal fence that surrounds the Legislative headquarters.
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