News from conflict areas in the Caucasus
Over 700 people detained for crossing ‘border with Georgia’ in 2023: Abkhaz de facto authorities
TBILISI, DFWatch–More than 700 people were detained on charges of crossing the de facto border between Abkhazia and Georgia in 2023, states security service of the breakaway Abkhazia. Most of them were punished administratively, and criminal prosecution was started against 15. According to the Sokhumi regime government, only 30 of these "crimes" are related to smuggling. [...]
Tskhinvali regime adopts law on eradicating Georgian placenames
Occupied South Ossetia’s de facto authorities continue to change toponyms in order to purposefully eradicate Georgian placenames. De facto parliament of South Ossetia adopted the law on (re-)naming geographical places on Tuesday at the session. The head of the Committee on National Politics, Religion and Media Alan Tadtaev said at the session the new law provides [...]
Former de facto president elevated to Russian mercenary army ranks claims over 1,000 South Ossetians fight in Ukraine
TBILISI, DFWatch –1,100-1,200 volunteers from South Ossetia are fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine, said Anatoly Bibilov, Deputy Commander of the Volunteer Assault Corps, in an interview with Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti. Bibilov, who served as president of South Ossetia's puppet regime from 2017 to 2012, claims that VAC, which encompasses all volunteers [...]
Sokhumi regime calls to revive IPRM meetings
TBILISI, DFWatch – De facto authorities of breakaway Abkhazia are ready to revive the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) discussions, Sokhumi regime deputy foreign minister Irakli Tuzhba said during the video conference with Russian and South Ossetian colleagues Tuesday. “The Abkhaz side has prepared another package of proposals to unfreeze the MPRI format. I hope that [...]
Amid hysteria over “second front”, Abkhaz militia kicks off drills in Gali
The pro-EU protests in Tbilisi, which forced the government to kill the highly controversial bill on “foreign agents”, have triggered a natural hysteria in occupied Abkhazia, where the narrative has stubbornly been spread as if the West is forcing Tbilisi to open a “second front”. As a climax of this hysteria, the military forces of the [...]
Four Abkhaz volunteers fighting on the Russian side killed in Ukraine
Abkhaz volunteers at Pyatnashka battalion (t.me/OSINTGeorgia) Four Abkhaz volunteers fighting on the Russian side have been killed in Donbas. The identities of at least three of them are known, although the Abkhazian Telegram channels report on the death of four. There are also unknown number of wounded. Volunteers from Russian-occupied Abkhazia died near the town of [...]
24 y/o volunteer from Abkhazia, who was fighting on the Russian side, killed in Donbas of Ukraine
Body of Artur Kirkinadze, an Abkhazian volunteer who died in Donbas, brought to Sukhumi. September 12. (Photo by Sokhumi regime emergency service). The body of 24-year-old Beslan Tapagua was brought Wednesday from Krasnodar to Sokhumi by the emergency service of the separatist regime. There are no details on how Tapagua died. It is only known that [...]
Five Georgian fighters killed in the battle of Bakhmut, Ukraine
Georgian Recon Team captured Russian BTR-82 somewhere in Ukraine (photo @Visioner). On Saturday, reports were spread about the death of five Georgian fighters at Bakhmut, Donbass. Later, this information was confirmed by the Embassy of Georgia in Kyiv, as well as Georgian volunteers who protect Ukraine from Russian aggression. There are no confirmed details about the [...]
Sukhumi regime complains Russian border guards mistreat Abkhaz MPs and ordinary citizens at the border
Border crossing "Psou". The Sukhumi regime complains to the Russian ambassador that citizens of the "Republic", including members of the de facto parliament, face problems from Russian officials when crossing the border. Abkhazia's de facto foreign minister Inal Ardzinba appealed to Mikhail Shurgalin, Russian ambassador to the self-proclaimed republic and complained that four MPs who were [...]
Pashinyan, Aliyev to sign peace deal in Tbilisi: Armenian media
(Kavkaz-uzel.eu) A peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed in Tbilisi by the end of November or the beginning of December, and preparatory work in this regard is already actively underway in Georgia, Armenian news website Graparak reports based on its own sources. The document, which is planned to be signed in Georgia, implies [...]
Three victims of Tskhinvali tragedy will be hospitalized in Tbilisi clinic
(cominf.org) Three people injured in the fire in Tskhinvali, the capital of Georgia’s breakaway republic of South Ossetia, which killed two children, will be taken to one of the clinics in Tbilisi for treatment, Ekho Kavkaza reports based on the information provided by International Committee of the Red Cross. The representatives of the puppet regime themselves [...]
Row over Pitsunda estate – the Kremlin tries to dispel Abkhaz fears about losing sovereignty
The state estate in Pitsunda, Abkhazia, which was a popular retreat for Soviet leaders during communist rule, has been a hotbed of tension between Moscow and its proxy Sukhumi government for months. The matter reached a boiling point in late August when Russian ambassador threatened to halt all investment projects in the breakaway republic. However, this [...]
Sokhumi regime ready to join the Russia-Belarus union as Bzhania points to “new realities”
TBILISI, DFWatch–Abkhaz leader is ready to drag the breakaway republic closer to Moscow by joining the Union State of Russia and Belarus. “We would like to join this union, we would gladly support this idea and be full members of this state,” said Thursday Aslan Bzhania, Abkhazia’s de facto president, in an interview with one of [...]
Russia plans to restore Sukhumi airport and resume flights to occupied Abkhazia
Russia plans to restore air traffic with breakaway Abkhazia, and pledges to assist Sokhumi regime to rehabilitate Babushara airport, which, according to de facto president Aslan Bzhania, will be completed in 2024. On Thursday in Sukhumi, Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov met with the regime's Vice PM Christina Ozgan, where they discussed the details of the [...]
Tskhinvali regime shaken after 28 y/o suspect “tortured to death” by police
(Cominf.org) The de facto leader of breakaway South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov dissolved “the government” Friday evening after hundreds of people rushed to the central square of Tskhinvali to protest a death of young man in Tskhinvali hospital. Inal Jabiev, 28 y/o, was suspected of attacking de facto minister of interior Igor Naniev. The latter’s [...]
Georgia offers grants to encourage trade with its breakaway regions
Trade center at Rukhi. (Facebook.) Georgia proposes a new grant program aimed at encouraging trade across the conflict lines within the framework of the peace initiative A Step to a Better Future. […]
Georgian, Ossetian athletes facilitated release of a woman from Tskhinvali jail
Maia Otinashvili (Photo: Goga Aptsiauri, RFE/RL). Several wrestlers and possibly other acting and retired athletes had played a key role in the release of 37 y/o Georgian woman from Tskhinvali prison, the family says, which was confirmed also by Georgia’s State Security Service (SUS). […]
Illegal trade on rise due to dire economic situation, Gali residents say
GALI, DFWatch – The loss of sources of income related to the spread of deadly brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), which has devastated locals’ orchards, urges residents of Gali to return to illegal business of smuggling goods, particularly cigarettes, from the breakaway Abkhazia to Georgia proper. […]
256 Gali youth tried to enroll at Georgian universities, 130 passed exams
Graduates registering for unified national exams 2018 in Tbilisi. (1tv.ge) GALI, DFWatch – 130 residents of breakaway Abkhazia’s Gali district enrolled at universities in Georgia proper this year, the head of Gali Educational Resource Center said to DFWatch. […]
Abkhazia’s de facto prime minister killed in car accident
Gennadi Gagulia. The prime minister of Sokhumi regime was killed in a car accident on the road connecting the capital of breakaway Abkhazia with Russia’s Sochi on Saturday, when he was returning from his trip to Syria. […]
Breakaway authorities step up Russification at schools, kindergartens in predominantly Georgian Akhalgori
Kindergarten in Akhalgori (cominf.org). Akhalgori, DFWatch – The 2018-19 academic year in Akhalgori schools and kindergartens starts on September 5 instead of September 1 and poses dire problems for ethnic Georgian kids and their parents. Despite the fact that ethnic Georgians compose over 55 percent of Akhalgori population, the Tskhinvali regime disbanded the sole Georgian kindergarten in the district in May. […]
Sokhumi regime vice president resigns, declares vendetta to punish offender
Vitali Gabnia. Vice president of breakaway Abkhazia has stepped down after an incident when he was hit by a glass to his head, saying that plans to retaliate in “Abkhazian spirit”. […]
Abkhazia declares Soviet passports invalid
GALI, DFWatch–Sokhumi has declared as invalid passports issued during the Soviet Union, which will cause problems for Georgians living in Abkhazia, many of whom rely on the documents for traveling in and out of the breakaway republic, locals told DFWatch. […]