Georgia: Putin Visits Abkhazia

One year after the end of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled to the breakaway region of Abkhazia on August 12 to pledge to protect the territory from any possible effort to bring it back under Georgian control.

In Sukhumi, the Abkhaz capital, Putin laid a wreath at a memorial to the 1992-1993 Georgia-Abkhazia war and met with separatist officials, the Interpressnews agency reported. Comments made during the visit have not been released. An Abkhaz official contacted by EurasiaNet declined to state how long the visit would last.

Georgian observers have termed the trip a show of defiance against the West, in the wake of a ceasefire agreement followed by Russia's controversial recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and fellow breakaway region South Ossetia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In an earlier interview with Abkhaz journalists in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Putin stated that Russia in 2010 will spend "in the neighborhood of 15 billion rubles" [about $463 million] to build a military base in Abkhazia and to reinforce the Abkhaz-Georgian border. Putin stated that Russia has sent "around 2.5 billion rubles" [about $77 million] "to support the Abkhaz budget" in 2009.

The Russian prime minister affirmed that "small states" like Abkhazia find it difficult to survive without the support of larger countries. The relations between Abkhazia and Russia fall in line with that practice, he added.

"Look at San Marino, Monaco, and so forth. Monaco has special relations with France," Putin said, in a transcript of the interview posted on his official government site. France is responsible for the defense of the principality of Monaco.

Putin indicated little inclination to heed international criticism of Moscow's recognition of Abkhazia or South Ossetia as independent states. The move provided a legal basis for developing relations with the two regions "without minding those who do not like this," he stated.

"The West is not a homogenous entity. . . . We also have supporters in what is referred to as the West," he said.

Nostalgia for his youth also apparently played a role in prompting Putin's visit to Abkhazia. The Russian premier said that he had visited Abkhazia twice during the Soviet era; first, with his university friends and later to stay in a Soviet youth camp. "I'm curious to see how Abkhazia has changed," Putin said.