TBILISI, October 20 – Abkhazia has started shipping its new tangerine crop to Russia, marking the opening of this year’s citrus export season, according to Marina Zhupanova, spokesperson for the Sochi customs office, who spoke to Interfax on Monday. Zhupanova said that the “tangerine season has opened on the Russia–Abkhazia border,” and that the first … Read more
TBILISI, October 17 – Explosions were heard overnight in the Russian resort city of Sochi, where local authorities said air defenses shot down incoming missiles and drones. Sochi’s mayor, Andrey Proshunin, said all emergency services had been placed on high alert and were working under the coordination of the city’s operational headquarters. He later confirmed … Read more
TBILISI, October 7 – A pest that first appeared in Abkhazia about eight years ago has now become a permanent local species, Abkhaz authorities say, but its threat to harvests has faded, officials add. Vladimir Geria, head of the Plant Protection Service at Abkhazia’s de facto Ministry of Agriculture, told Apsnipress that the insect known … Read more
TBILISI, September 18 – More than 70,000 passengers have flown on direct routes between Russia and Abkhazia since Moscow resumed air links to the breakaway region earlier this year, according to Russian aviation chief Dmitry Yadrovo in a briefing with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Flights into Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, restarted on May 1, … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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, … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Russia has sent its first batch of the Sputnik V vaccine to Abkhazia, where people will start receiving the jab after the May 9 Victory Day celebrations. The Russian vaccine against the coronavirus will only be administered in one location, Sokhumi Republican Hospital. Initially, only medical staff, teachers, government employees and law enforcement officials … Read more
GALI, DFwatch–In the village of Tagiloni in the Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia, there has been an explosion of cases of an illness locals suspect to be Covid-19, following a burial feast held ten days ago. Locals reached out to DFWatch, to appeal for help from Tbilisi, saying there is a severe shortage of medical … Read more