1.
President of Abkhazia
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The position of President of Abkhazia was created in 1994. Before the office of president was created the head of state position was known as the Chairman of Parliament between 1992 and the creation of the 1994 constitution, before the position of Chairman of Parliament, the highest office in Abkhazia was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. The post would last from the declaration of sovereignty from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic on 25 August 1990 until the declaration of independence on 23 July 1992. MP Daur Arshba claimed that the decision had been taken illegally, — Almighty God, give me strength to serve country and people. Government of the Republic of Abkhazia Prime Minister of Abkhazia Minister for Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia President of the Republic of Abkhazia
2.
Alexander Ankvab
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Aleksandr Ankvab is an Abkhaz politician and businessman who was President of Abkhazia from May 29,2011, until his resignation on June 1,2014. Under President Sergei Bagapsh, he served as Prime Minister from 2005 to 2010. Ankvab was appointed acting President of Abkhazia after President Bagapsh underwent an operation on May 21,2011, following the operation, Bagapsh died on May 29,2011 and Ankvab served as Acting President until winning election in his own right later in 2011. Ankvab survived six attempts on his life from 2005 to 2012, last time as a president on February 22,2012, when his convoy was ambushed in Abkhazia, killing two of his guards. On May 27,2014, Ankvabs headquarters in Sukhumi were stormed by opposition groups led by Raul Khadjimba, the Abkhaz parliament declared Ankvab unable to exercise his presidential powers on May 31,2014, and Ankvab resigned on June 1,2014. He was elected to the Abkhazian Supreme Soviet in 1991 and he was appointed interior minister of Abkhazias separatist government during the 1992–1993 conflict with the Georgian central government. Following the Abkhaz victory, he moved to Moscow in 1994, Ankvab returned to Abkhazian politics in 2000, setting up the movement Aitaira in opposition to the government of President Vladislav Ardzinba. In 2004 he announced that he would run for president, but was disqualified as ineligible on the grounds that he could not speak Abkhaz and had lived in Abkhazia for too short a time, Ankvab decided to support Bagapsh instead and was crucial to the latters electoral success. His appointment as minister was widely predicted. Ankvab was Sergei Bagapshs Vice Presidential candidate in the 12 December 2009 presidential election, as required by law, Ankvab was therefore officially suspended from his post on 11 November, his duties to be carried out by First Vice Premier Leonid Lakerbaia. Bagapsh and Ankvab won the election, and they were sworn in on 12 February 2010, the following day, Ankvab was succeeded as Prime Minister by Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba. After Bagapshs unexpected death after surgery, Ankvab became an acting president. He was nominated for presidency by a group for a snap presidential elections held in the region on August 26,2011. Ankvab accused Shamba of resorting to black PR, while Shambas campaign team issued a statement calling on the office to investigate Ankvabs war-time activities. According to the preliminary results Ankvab garnered up to 55% of votes, defeating Shamba and ex-vice president, the last assassination attempt killed two of Ankvabs security guards, he himself was injured in the two previous attacks. Only after the February 2012 assassination attempt arrests were made, former Interior Minister Almasbei Kchach was one of two suspects who subsequently committed suicide. One man was indicted and arrested for the July 2007 attack. One of the issues that sparked the rebellion was Ankvabs relatively liberal citizenship policy
3.
Tkvarcheli
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Tkvarcheli is a town in Abkhazia, Georgia. It is situated on the river Ghalidzga and a railroad connects it with Ochamchire, coal mining, which began in the area in 1935, grew in importance during the Second World War, especially after the Donbass was lost during the Nazi invasion. Tkvarcheli was given town status on 9 April 1942 During the War in Abkhazia, Tkvarcheli withstood, through Russian humanitarian and military aid, since 1995, it is the centre of the newly formed Tkvarcheli District. On 27 September 2008, President Sergei Bagapsh awarded it the title of Hero City. Coal-mining has been the main industry ever since although now the Soviet mines are closed. Tamsaşs tax payments account for 75% of the Tkvarcheli districts budget however, construction of a new cement plant is planned now, its output to be used for the Olympic construction projects in Sochi. The towns population was 21,744 in 1989, the three main ethnic groups were Abkhaz, Russians and Georgians. At the time of the 2003 census, its population was 4,786, by the time of the 2011 census, it had increased to 5,013. Of these,66. 5% were Abkhaz,16. 0% Georgian,9. 7% Russian,1. 4% Mingrelian,1. 3% Ukrainian,1. 1% Armenian,0. 4% Greek and 0. 1% Svan
4.
Vice President of Abkhazia
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Additionally, the Vice President would assume the presidency in case the President becomes incapable of carrying out the presidential duties. The Vice President shall not be member of the Parliament, or hold any other offices in state or public bodies as well as in businesses, the Vice President is elected simultaneously with the President. A candidate for Vice President is nominated by a candidate for President, on 25 December 2013, Mikhail Logua announced his resignation as Vice President for health reasons. President of Abkhazia Prime Minister of Abkhazia Minister for Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia President of the Republic of Abkhazia
5.
Sergei Bagapsh
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Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh was the second President of the Republic of Abkhazia. He was Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999 and was elected as President in 2005. He was re-elected in the 2009 presidential election and he died on 29 May 2011, at the age of 62, from complications of surgery. Sergei Bagapsh was born on 4 March 1949 at Sukhumi in the Georgian SSR, throughout most of his life, he had lived in Abkhazia. In his youth, Bagapsh was a member of the Georgian basketball team, Bagapsh graduated from the Georgian State University of Subtropical Agriculture in Sukhumi. During his studies he worked first, in a wine cooperative, in 1972, he fulfilled his military service, worked as the head of a sovkhoz following which he became instructor with the Abkhazian regional committee of the Komsomol. In 1978, Bagapsh became responsible for information in the committee of the Komsomols Georgian branch and in 1980. In 1982, Sergei Bagapsh became secretary general of the communist party in the Ochamchira district, after the fall of communism, Bagapsh became a businessman and the representative of the Abkhazian government in Moscow. From 1995 until 1997, Bagapsh was First Vice-Premier of Abkhazia, on 9 November 1995, Bagapsh was seriously wounded in an attack. Sergei Bagapsh was appointed to the office of Prime Minister of Abkhazia on 29 April 1997, the Georgian-Abkhazian tensions during Bagapshs term in office came to a height in May 1998, when the Tbilisi-based government deployed forces along the Abkhaz-Georgian border. From 2000 until 2004, Sergei Bagapsh was the director of the Abkhazian state-owned power company Chernomorenergo. During the same period, he began to emerge as an opposition candidate in the lead-up to the 2004 presidential election. In early 2004, he one of three leaders of the newly founded opposition party, United Abkhazia. In the elections, Bagapsh and his opponent, Raul Khadjimba. The Abkhaz Electoral Commission originally declared Khadjimba to be the winner, with Bagapsh a distant second, the court then reversed its decision when Khadjimbas supporters stormed the court building. At one point, Bagapsh and his supporters threatened to hold their own inauguration on 6 December 2004, however, in early December, Bagapsh and Khadjimba reached an agreement to run together on a national unity ticket. New elections were held on 12 January 2005, with this ticket easily winning, under the agreement, Bagapsh ran for president and Khadjimba ran for vice-president. Bagapsh was nominated on 27 October by United Abkhazia, with Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab of Aitaira as his Vice Presidential candidate, on 18 November, Bagapsh received the additional support of the Communist Party of Abkhazia
6.
Prime Minister of Abkhazia
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The Prime Minister of Abkhazia is the head of government of the Republic of Abkhazia. While the Presidency was held by one man – Vladislav Ardzinba – from 1994 to 2005 and it was created with the November 1994 adoption of the Constitution of Abkhazia, and Gennady Gagulia was appointed to the position in January 1995. After Sergei Bagapsh succeeded Ardzinba to the Presidency in February 2005, Bagapsh and Ankvab won the election, and on 13 February 2010, Ankvab was succeeded by long-time Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Shamba. After Alexander Ankvab defeated Sergei Shamba in the 2011 presidential election, on 2 June 2014, Lakerbaia resigned as a result of the Abkhazian Revolution and Vice Premier Vladimir Delba was appointed acting Prime Minister. The 2014 presidential election was won by opposition leader Raul Khajimba, Butba was finally dismissed by President Khajimba on 16 March 2015, and temporarily replaced by First Vice Premier Shamil Adzynba. In a press conference afterwards, Butba said that he had made Khajimba aware of his intention to resign and he claimed that the Presidential Administration had taken over many of the responsibilities of the Prime Minister, creating a second government. On 20 March, Khajimba appointed MP and former United Abkhazia Chairman Artur Mikvabia as Butbas successor, Khajimba again appointed Adzynba as acting Prime Minister. On 5 August, he appointed Newly Appointed Presidential Administration Head Beslan Bartsits as the new Prime Minister
7.
Vladislav Ardzinba
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Vladislav Ardzinba was the first de facto President of Abkhazia. A noted specialist in Hittitology, he was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in the Soviet Union in 1989, vladislav Ardzinba was born in the village of Lower Eshera, Sukhumi District, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union. After graduating from the Historical Department of the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute, from there, he was involved closely with national issues, including Abkhazia, and quickly emerged as one of the most active proponents of the Abkhaz secessionist cause. He was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in the Soviet Union in 1989, on 4 December 1990, Ardzinba was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia. Ardzinba, a charismatic but excitable figure popular among the Abkhaz was believed by Georgians to have helped to instigate the violence of July 1989. In mid-1991, he negotiated and accepted the Georgian concession on the reform of the law that granted the Abkhaz wide over-representation in the Supreme Soviet. However, Ardzinba created the Abkhazian National Guard that was mono-ethnically Abkhaz, as the Georgian-Abkhaz tensions rose, Ardzinbas rhetoric mounted, as he claimed in late July 1992 that Abkhazia is strong enough to fight Georgia. In August 1992, a Georgian military force ousted Ardzinba and his group from Sukhumi and they took shelter in Gudauta, a home to the Soviet-era Russian military base. Ardzinba benefited from his contacts with the Russian hardliner circles and military leaders to garner support in the war against the Georgian government. He won the first direct polls on 3 October 1999, without an opponent and was re-elected as president of Abkhazia and he installed an autocratic regime and remained politically untouchable until his health seriously deteriorated in 2003. He once stated that independence from Georgia is not negotiable, and he has tried to align the state with Russia, whose political and economic support was essential to the republic. As a leader of the Abkhaz side he met the two successive Russian presidents, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, as well as a President of Georgia, Ardzinba aroused some further criticism from the international community after issuing a decree banning Jehovahs Witnesses in 1995. During the last years of his presidency Ardzinba faced criticism for failing to bring stability to Abkhazia and his increasingly low public profile. He had not appeared in public since 2002, as a result, the role of governing the state had been increasingly left to Prime Minister Raul Khajimba. He had been in poor health and underwent treatment in Moscow for some time. There were also calls for him to be impeached, however, although the Abkhaz Constitution allows for impeachment, the process would likely have not been completed before the end of his term, so no serious steps were taken to bring it about. He was unable to run for a term due to constitutional restrictions. He was replaced by the winner of the election of 12 January 2005
8.
Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
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Georgia, formally the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also commonly known as Soviet Georgia was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its inception in 1922 to its breakup in 1991. From November 18,1989, the Georgian SSR declared its sovereignty over Soviet laws, geographically, the Georgian SSR was bordered by Turkey to the south-west and the Black Sea to the west. Within the Soviet Union it bordered the Russian SFSR to the north, Armenian SSR to the south, on November 28,1917, after the October Revolution in Russia, there was a Transcaucasian Commissariat established in Tiflis. A moderate, multi-party democratic system led by the Social Democratic Party of Georgia operated in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, but in February 1921, the Red Army invaded Georgia. The Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia was established on February 25,1921, on March 2 of the following year the first constitution of Soviet Georgia was accepted. From March 12,1922 to December 5,1936 it was part of the Transcaucasian SFSR together with the Armenian SSR, in 1936, the TSFSR was dissolved. In 1936, the TSFSR was dissolved and Georgia became the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, lavrentiy Beria became head of the Georgian OGPU and purged Georgia until he was transferred to Moscow in 1938. Reaching the Caucasus oilfields was one of the objectives of Hitlers invasion of the USSR in June 1941. The country contributed almost 700,000 fighters to the Red Army and he abolished their respective autonomous republics. The Georgian SSR was briefly granted some of their territory until 1957, the decentralisation program introduced by Khrushchev in the mid-1950s was soon exploited by Georgian Communist Party officials to build their own regional power base. A thriving pseudo-capitalist shadow economy emerged alongside the official state-owned economy, corruption was at a high level. Among all the republics, Georgia had the highest number of residents with high or special secondary education. Although corruption was hardly unknown in the Soviet Union, it became so widespread, shevardnadze ascended to the post of First Secretary with the blessings of Moscow. He was an effective and able ruler of Georgia from 1972 to 1985, improving the official economy, Soviet power and Georgian nationalism clashed in 1978 when Moscow ordered revision of the constitutional status of the Georgian language as Georgias official state language. Bowing to pressure from street demonstrations on April 14,1978. April 14 was established as a Day of the Georgian Language, on April 9,1989, Soviet troops were used to break up a peaceful demonstration at the government building in Tbilisi. Twenty Georgians were killed and hundreds wounded and poisoned, the event radicalised Georgian politics, prompting many - even some Georgian communists - to conclude that independence was preferable to continued Soviet unity. On October 28,1990, democratic elections were held
9.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
10.
Abkhazians
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Abkhazians or the Abkhaz are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. A large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the emigration from the Caucasus in the late 19th century known as muhajirism, many Abkhaz also live in other parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia and Ukraine. The Abkhaz is closely related to Circassian. Classical sources speak of several tribes dwelling in the region, but their exact identity, there are also three subgroups of the Abkhaz people. The Bzyb reside in the Bzyb River region, and speak their own dialect, the Abzhui live in the Kodori River region, and also speak their own dialect, which the Abkhaz literary language is based upon. Finally, there is the Zamurzakan who reside in the southeast of Abkhazia, some scholars deem the ancient Heniochi tribe the progenitors of the Abkhaz. This warlike people came into contact with Ancient Greeks through the colonies of Dioskourias and Pitiuntas, in the Roman period, the Abasgoi are mentioned as inhabiting the region. These Abasgoi were described by Procopius as warlike, worshippers of three deities, under the suzerainty of the Kingdom of Lazica, the Abkhazian view is that the Apsilae and Abasgoi are ancestors of the Abkhaz–Adyghe group of peoples, while the Georgian view is that those were Kartvelians. When the Achba dynasty established the Kingdom of Abkhazia in the 780s and freed themselves from the Byzantine hegemony, the local nobility, clergy and educated class used Georgian as a language of literacy and culture. Georgian would remain the second language for many Abkhaz until Russian replaced it in the early 20th century. From the early 11th to the 15th century, Abkhazia was a part of the all-Georgian monarchy, towards the end of the 17th century, the region became a theatre of widespread slave trade and piracy. These views were described as ethnocentric and having little historical support and they served as intellectual support to the Stalin-era assimilation policy and had a profound influence on the Georgian nationalism in the 1980s. The Russian conquest of Abkhazia from the 1810s to the 1860s was accompanied by a massive expulsion of Muslim Abkhaz to the Ottoman Empire, as a result, the Abkhaz diaspora is currently estimated to measure at least twice the number of Abkhaz that reside in Abkhazia. The largest part of the diaspora now lives in Turkey, with estimates ranging from 100,000 to 500,000, with groups in Syria. In recent years, some of these have emigrated to the West, principally to Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Austria, the status of Abkhazia was downgraded in 1931 when it became an Autonomous SSR within the Georgian SSR. Under Joseph Stalin, a forcible collectivization was introduced and the native communist elite purged, the influx of Armenians, Russians and Georgians into the growing agricultural and tourism sectors was also encouraged, and Abkhaz schools were briefly closed. By 1989, the number of Abkhaz was about 93,000, the number of Armenians and Russians grew substantially as well. The 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia left the Abkhaz an ethnic plurality of ca. 45%, with Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, the 2003 census established the total number of Abkhaz in Abkhazia at 94,606
11.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
12.
Abkhazian State University
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The Abkhazian State University is the only university in Abkhazia. It was founded in 1979 on the basis of the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute and its first rector was Zurab Anchabadze. The university consists the departments of physics and mathematics, biology and geography, history, philology, economics, law, pedagogical, the first college in Abkhazia, Sukhumi Agro-pedagogical Institute was founded in 1932 and transformed into Maxim Gorky Pedagogical Institute the following year. Following the rallies and street demonstrations in 1978 it was transformed into Abkhazian State University with Abkhaz, in 1989 Georgian students demanded that the Georgian sector be transformed into a branch of the Tbilisi State University. This was opposed by the Abkhaz and eventually led to the clashes in the city, official information on the Abkhazian State University
13.
Abkhazian language
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Abkhaz /æpˈhɑːz/ is a Northwest Caucasian language most closely related to Abaza. It is spoken mostly by the Abkhaz people and it is the official language of Abkhazia where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgias other autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan, the Russian census of 2010 reported 6,786 speakers of Abkhaz in Russia. Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language and is related to Adyghe. Grammatically, the two are similar, however, the differences in phonology are substantial and are the main reason for many other linguists preferring to keep the two separate. Most linguists believe that Ubykh is the closest relative to the Abkhaz–Abaza dialect continuum, Abkhaz is spoken primarily in Abkhazia. However, the number of Abkhaz speakers in these countries remains unknown due to a lack of official records. Bzyb or Bzyp, spoken in the Caucasus and in Turkey, Sadz, nowadays spoken only in Turkey, formerly also spoken between the rivers Bzyp and Khosta. The literary Abkhaz language is based on the Abzhywa dialect, Abkhaz has a very large number of consonants, with three-way voiced/voiceless/ejective and palatalized/labialized/plain distinctions. By contrast, the language has only two phonemically distinct vowels—which, however, have several allophones depending on the palatal and/or labial quality of adjacent consonants. Phonemes in green are found in the Bzyp and Sadz dialects of Abkhaz, Abkhaz is typologically classified as an agglutinative language. Like all other Northwest Caucasian languages, Abkhaz has a complex verbal system coupled with a very simple noun system. Viacheslav Chirikba has characterized Abkhaz as a language, as the verb occupies the central place in Abkhaz morphology. Abkhaz is a language that distinguishes just two cases, the nominative and the adverbial. Abkhaz uses the Cyrillic script since 1862, the first alphabet was a 37–character Cyrillic alphabet invented by Baron Peter von Uslar. In 1909 a 55-letter Cyrillic alphabet was used, a 75-letter Latin script devised by a Russian/Georgian linguist Nikolai Marr lasted for 2 years 1926–1928. The earliest extant written records of the Abkhaz language are in the Arabic script, Abkhaz has been used as a literary language for only about 100 years. Both Georgian and Abkhaz law enshrines an official status of the Abkhaz language in Abkhazia, the 1992 law of Georgia, reiterated in the 1995 Constitution, grants Abkhaz the status of second official language in the territory of Abkhazia, along with Georgian
14.
Abkhazian Revolution
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The Abkhazian Revolution took place in 2014, when President Aleksandr Ankvab resigned after hundreds of demonstrators stormed his office. The uprising was attributed to anger with Ankvab over his perceived liberal policy toward ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia. Although Abkhazia seceded from Georgia in 2008, the Ankvab administration allowed ethnic Georgians to register as voters, the revolution led to an early presidential election being called in August 2014. Opposition leader Raul Khajimba was elected president with a majority of the vote. In May 2011, Sergei Bagapsh died in office, leading to the 2011 presidential election, Alexander Ankvab won with 54. 9% of the votes. In late April 2014, the opposition submitted a 5 May ultimatum to President Ankvab to dismiss the government, may 27, In the centre of Sukhumi 10,000 supporters of the Abkhaz opposition gathered. On the same day, President Aleksandr Ankvabs headquarters in Sukhumi were stormed by opposition groups led by Raul Khadjimba, the opposition claimed that the protests were sparked by poverty, but the main point of contention was President Ankvabs liberal policy towards ethnic Georgians in the Gali region. The opposition said these policies could endanger Abkhazias ethnic Abkhazian identity, georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to act in response to the political unrest in Abkhazia. May 28, During the night, Russias Deputy Security Council Secretary Rashid Nurgaliyev met with Ankvab, who described the events as a coup attempt. ”It was also reported that Ankvab met with Putin’s aide Vladislav Surkov. On May 28 Surkov also met opposition leaders Raul Khajimba, Sergei Shamba, Akhra Bzhaniya. On May 30 media reported that Ankvab moved to Russian Federation military base in Gudauta due to security concerns, may 31, The Abkhaz parliament appointed speaker of the parliament Valeri Bganba as an acting President. It also decided to hold a presidential election on August 24. The resolution said that the document was adopted in connection with Alexander Ankvabs inability to exercise the powers, President Ankvab slammed parliament for urging him to step down and for a vote of no confidence in the Cabinet. June 1, Ankvab resigned with the goal of preserving stability in the country, demonstrators started celebrating in the streets of Sukhumi. Acting President Valeri Bgangba stated that his task now would be to hold a successful early presidential election. Ankvab stated that he run in the election. June 3, Acting President Valeri Bgangba stated that his task now would be to hold a successful early presidential election. Ankvab stated that he run in the election
15.
Abkhazian presidential election, 2004
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On 3 October 2004 Abkhazia held its second Presidential elections since the post of President of the Republic of Abkhazia was created in 1994, and the first that were competitive. Election law prohibited incumbent President Vladislav Ardzinba from running for a term and he instead backed Prime Minister Raul Khadjimba. The results of the elections were contested and split Abkhazian society in two. Prospective candidates had to be nominated by an interest group, a group or a political party between 4 and 23 August 2004. A total of nine people were nominated, of which seven registered their candidacy, on 2 September the Central Election Commission announced that the registration of six candidates had been approved. But 3 September one candidate withdrew, the five candidates that participated in the elections are, in order of nomination, Anri Jergenia, former Prime Minister, with Ruslan Kishmaria as running mate. Jergenia was nominated by a group on 4 August. Papers required for the registration of his candidacy were submitted 23 August, Raul Khadjimba, Prime Minister and former Minister of Defence, with Vitali Smyr as running mate. Khajimba was nominated on 5 August by an initiative group, on 10 August, the Republican Party Apsny also nominated Khadjimba, and on 12 August Khadjimba was nominated by two more initiative groups. Papers required for the registration of Khadjimbas candidacy were submitted 19 August, Khadjimba passed his Abkhaz language test on 20 August. Sergei Bagapsh, head of Chernomorenergo and former Prime Minister, with Stanislav Lakoba as running mate, Bagapsh was nominated on 5 August by the socio-political organisations United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara and he later also received the support of Aitaira and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions. Papers required for the registration of Bagapshs candidacy were submitted 21 August, on 23 August, Bagapsh passed the Abkhaz language test and United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara submitted the required papers for his registration. Sergei Shamba, former Minister for Foreign Affairs, with Vladimir Arshba as running mate, Shamba was registered on 6 August by an initiative group. Papers required for the registration of Shambas candidacy were submitted 19 August, Shamba passed his Abkhaz language test on 20 August. Iakub Lakoba, head of the Peoples Party of Abkhazia, with Fatima Kvitsinia as running mate, Lakoba was first nominated on 12 August by an initiative group, and then on 18 August also by the Peoples Party of Abkhazia. Papers required for the registration of Lakobas candidacy were submitted 23 August and he was nominated by one initiative group. Papers required for the registration of Arshbas candidacy were submitted 23 August, on 3 September Valery Arshba announced that he was withdrawing from the elections. There was one whose registration was not accepted, Alexander Ankvab, businessman in Moscow
16.
Abkhazian presidential election, 2009
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On 12 December 2009, Abkhazia held its fourth Presidential election since the post of President of the Republic of Abkhazia was created in 1994. The election was won by incumbent president Sergei Bagapsh in the first round with 61% of the votes and he was inaugurated on 12 February 2010. Khajimba had stated that he, Ardzinba and Butba would support each other should one of them reach the round of the election. Prospective candidates had to be nominated between 13 October and 2 November 2009 and this could be done either by an interest group, which had to present a list of signatures, or by a political party registered with the Central Election Commission. The only parties registered in this way were United Abkhazia, the Forum of the National Unity of Abkhazia, the Party of the Economic Development of Abkhazia and the Peoples Party. After the nomination period ended on 2 November, the Central Election Commission verified the signature lists, to test the nominees proficiency in Abkhaz, it established a language commission consisting of Aleksei Kaslandzia, Batal Khagush, Eva Tania, Adgur Skinkuba and Fatima Kvarchelia. Five people were nominated for the presidency, on 5 November they successfully passed the Abkhaz language examination. Bagapsh and Khajimba were exempted from it as they had passed a similar examination during the 2004 Presidential election. On 6 November, all five nominees were officially registered as candidates, one person was nominated who subsequently withdrew his nomination, Jamalik Aiba. Aiba was nominated by an interest group on 23 October, on 26 October the Central Election Commission reported that Aiba had withdrawn his nomination. Sergei Bagapsh and Raul Khajimba already competed for the presidency in the 2004 Presidential election and that election was narrowly won by Bagapsh, but this was disputed by Khajimba and his supporters. To end the crisis that followed Bagapsh and Khajimba reached an agreement under which Bagapsh became President. The arrangement was uneasy, Khajimbas Forum of the National Unity of Abkhazia remained in opposition, on 28 May Khajimba announced that he agreed with the criticism and that he had filed for resignation. According to some observers Khajimba was partly motivated in his decision by the need to disassociate himself from the current authorities in the run-up to the election, Beslan Butba is a prominent businessman and a former member of the Peoples Assembly. When he failed to retain his seat in the 2007 elections, he founded the Party of the Economic Development of Abkhazia, on 15 May 2009 Butba first announced that he planned to compete in the presidential election. In the run-up to the election, various politicians and organisation often jointly expressed their criticism of the government. Putin had met with Khajimba, but not with Butba, during the nomination period for candidates, Khajimba then tried to form a team with Ardzinba. The alliance would have combined Ardzinbas backing by part of the business community, the pair said they would run together during two meetings with voters, and the idea was that they would receive the joint nomination by the Forum of the National Unity of Abkhazia
17.
Soviet Air Defence Forces
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The Soviet Air Defence Forces was the air defence branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. It continued being a branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1998. Unlike Western air defence forces, V-PVO was a branch of the military itself, separate from the Soviet Air Force. During the Soviet period it was ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the Strategic Rocket Forces. Preparations for creation of the air forces started in 1932. At the outbreak of war, air forces were in the midst of rearmament. Anti-aircraft artillery teams had few of the latest 37 mm automatic and 85 mm guns, moreover, the troops were deficient in Yak-1 s and MiG-3s, 46% of the fleet were obsolete aircraft. Increased rates of production were initiated to provide the new equipment. To this end, the formation of parts of the IA, IN, anti-aircraft machine gun, a classic example of a major political organization of defence and industrial center was the defence of Moscow. It was carried out by the 1st Air Defence Corps and the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps PVO, the presence of such large forces, skillful management organisation foiled enemy attempts to inflict massive air strikes. Only 2. 6% of the number of Axis aircraft flew in the outskirts of Moscow as a result of their efforts. Air defence forces defending Moscow destroyed 738 enemy aircraft, in addition, assaults by the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps inflicted heavy blows, destroyed 567 enemy aircraft on the ground. Overall, the Air Defence Forces destroyed 1,305 aircraft, on November 9,1941, the post of the Commander of the Air Defence Forces was created, and Major General Mikhail Gromadin was appointed. In January 1942, to improve the interaction of forces and air defence systems, in April 1942, the Moscow Air Defence Front was founded, and the Leningrad and Baku Air Defence Armies were later raised. There were the first operational formations of the Air Defence Forces, in June 1943, the Office of the Commander of Air Defence Forces of the country was disbanded. In the Far East in March 1945, three air armies were established, Maritime, Amur and Baikal. In carrying out its tasks, the PVO destroyed 7,313 German aircraft, of which 4,168 and 3,145 were targeted by the IA antiaircraft artillery, machine guns, during the war PVO formations were organised as Air Defence Fronts and Air Defence Armies. PVO Fronts normally covered airspace over several ground Army Fronts, these should not be confused with each other, in May 1954, it was established as equal to the other branches of the Soviet Armed Forces, receiving its first commander-in-chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov
18.
Minsk
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Minsk (Belarusian, Мінск pronounced, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers. It is the centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States. As the national capital, Minsk has an administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region. In 2013, it had a population of 2,002,600, the earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century, when it was noted as a provincial city within the principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers, in 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499, from 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodeship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, from 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union. Minsk will host the 2019 European Games, Minsk is located on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills, a region of rolling hills running from the southwest to the northeast – that is, to Lukomskaye Lake in northwestern Belarus. The average altitude above sea level is 220 metres, the physical geography of Minsk was shaped over the two most recent ice ages. There are six smaller rivers within the city limits, all part of the Black Sea basin, Minsk is in the area of mixed forests typical of most of Belarus. Pinewood and mixed forests border the edge of the city, especially in the north, some of the forests were preserved as parks as the city grew. The city was built on the hills, which allowed for defensive fortifications. Minsk has a warm summer humid continental climate, owing to its location between the strong influence of the moist air of the Atlantic Ocean and the dry air of the Eurasian landmass. Its weather is unstable and tends to change often, the average January temperature is −4.5 °C, while the average July temperature is 18.5 °C. The lowest temperature was recorded on 17 January 1940, at −40 °C and the warmest on 29 July 1936 at 35 °C and this results in frequent fogs, common in the autumn and spring. Minsk receives annual precipitation of 690 millimetres, of one third falls during the cold period. Throughout the year, most winds are westerly and northwesterly, bringing cool, similar climatic regimes are found in Stockholm, Sweden and in Halifax, Canada. The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Centre of Radioactive and Environmental Control, during 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons
19.
Sukhumi
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Sukhumi or Sokhumi is a city on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia which has controlled it since the 1992-93 war in Abkhazia, sukhumis history can be traced back to the 6th century BC, when it was settled by Greeks, who named it Dioscurias. During this time and the subsequent Roman period, much of the city disappeared under the Black Sea, the city was named Tskhumi when it became part of the Kingdom of Abkhazia. Contested by local princes, it part of the Ottoman Empire in the 1570s. Following a period of conflict during Russian Civil War, it part of the Soviet Union. As the Soviet Union broke up in the early 1990s, the city suffered significant damage during the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict, the present-day population of 60,000 is only half of the population living there towards the end of Soviet rule. In Georgian, the city is known as სოხუმი or აყუ, in Megrelian as აყუჯიხა, the toponym Sokhumi derives from the Georgian word Tskhomi/Tskhumi, meaning beech. It is significant, that dia in several dialects of the Georgian language and among them in Megrelian means mother, in Abkhaz, the city is known as Аҟәа which according to native tradition signifies water. In the ancient Greek sources the city is referred to as Dioscurias, according to the antique traditions this name originates from the mythical Dioskouri, the twin brothers Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus. It was believed that the town had established by Castors and Polluxs coachmen. However the names of the town may simply be the Greek comprehension of the old Georgian word combination, the medieval Georgian sources knew the town as Tskhumi. Later, under the Ottoman control, the town was known in Turkish as Suhum-Kale, Tskhumi in turn is supposed to be derived from the Svan language word for hot, or the Georgian word for hornbeam tree. The ending -i in the above forms represents the Georgian nominative-suffix, the town was initially officially described in Russian as Сухум, until 16 August 1936 when this was changed to Сухуми. This remained so until 4 December 1992, when the Supreme Council of Abkhazia restored the original version, that was approved in Russia in autumn 2008, even though Сухуми is also still being used. In English, the most common today is Sukhumi, although Sokhumi is increasing in usage and has been adopted by sources including Encyclopædia Britannica, MSN Encarta, Esri. Sukhumi is located on a bay of the eastern coast of the Black Sea and serves as a port, rail junction. It is known for its beaches, sanatoriums, mineral-water spas, Sukhumi is also an important air link for Abkhazia as the Sukhumi Dranda Airport is located nearby the city. Sukhumi contains a number of small-to-medium size hotels serving chiefly the Russian tourists, Sukhumi botanical garden was established in 1840, one of the oldest botanical gardens in the Caucasus
20.
2001 Kodori crisis
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The 2001 Kodori crisis was a confrontation in the Kodori Valley, Abkhazia, in October 2001 between Georgians and Abkhazian forces. The crisis was largely neglected by world media, focused on the concurrent US attack on Afghanistan, on October 4,2001, a group of Chechen and Georgian fighters led by the commander Ruslan Gelayev entered the gorge from the Georgian side and attacked the village Giorgievskoe. Then, on October 8,2001, a helicopter carrying United Nations observers was shot down over Kodori, chkhetiani, a resident of Kutaisi and born in 1973, had been condemned to a prison sentence of 15 years. On 29 July 2006, Mart Laar, former minister of Estonia. Laar also warned that future provocations of Georgia by Russia are to be expected, on 30 April 2008, Russia accused Georgia of massing 1500 troops in the Kodori region in preparation to invade Abkhazia. Georgia maintained the troops were present in accordance with a 1994 accord that allowed for peacekeeping forces in the region and were essential to maintaining order after the 2001 Kodori crisis, Russia responded by deploying troops to the region, further escalating tensions between Russia and Georgia. These forces would take part in the war in 2008
21.
Igor Ivanov
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Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov is a Russian politician who was Foreign Minister of Russia from 1998 to 2004. Ivanov was born in 1945 in Moscow to a Russian father, in 1969 he graduated at the Maurice Thorez Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages. He joined the Soviet Foreign Ministry in 1973 and spent a decade in Spain and he returned to the Soviet Union in 1983. In 1991 he became the ambassador in Madrid and he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on September 11,1998. As Russian foreign minister, Ivanov was an opponent of NATOs action in Yugoslavia and he was also an opponent of the U. S. invasion of Iraq. Ivanov played a key role in mediating a deal between Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and opposition parties during Georgias Rose Revolution in 2003, on 9 July 2007 he submitted his resignation. Igor Ivanov is the President of Russian International Affairs Council, in 2011 Ivanov became a member of the advisory council of The Hague Institute for Global Justice and in 2014 worked for The Moscow Times
22.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
23.
Mikheil Saakashvili
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Mikheil Saakashvili is a Ukrainian and former Georgian politician. He was the Governor of Ukraines Odessa Oblast from May 2015 until November 2016, Saakashvili is the founder and former chairman of the United National Movement Party. He was re-elected in the Georgian presidential election on 5 January 2008 and he was widely regarded as a pro-NATO and pro-West leader who spearheaded a series of political and economic reforms. In 2010, he had a 67% approval rating despite being criticized by the opposition for his authoritarian tendencies. On 2 October 2012, Saakashvili admitted his partys defeat in Georgias parliamentary election against the Georgian Dream coalition led by the tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili. He was barred by the constitution of Georgia from seeking a term in the 2013 presidential election. Shortly after the election, Saakashvili left Georgia, Saakashvili is wanted by Georgias new government on multiple criminal charges, which he denies as politically motivated. Saakashvili energetically supported Ukraines Euromaidan movement and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, on 30 May 2015 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed Saakashvili Governor of Odessa Oblast. He was also granted Ukrainian citizenship, on 7 November 2016 Saakashvili resigned as Governor while blaming President Poroshenko personally for enabling corruption in Odessa and in Ukraine overall. Four days later he announced his goal to create a new party called Movement of New Forces. Some non-Georgian sources spell Saakashvilis first name via the Russian version of the name Mikhail, in Georgia, he is commonly known as Misha, a hypocorism for Mikheil. Mikheil Saakashvili was born in Tbilisi on 21 December 1967, capital of the then Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union and his father, Nikoloz Saakashvili, is a physician who practices medicine in Tbilisi and directs a local Balneological Center. His mother, Giuli Alasania, is a historian who lectures at Tbilisi State University, during university, he served his shortened military service in 1989–1990 with the Soviet Border Troops checkpoint unit in the Boryspil Airport in Ukraine. Saakashvili graduated from the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 1992, at this university he was friends with later President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. He received an LL. M. from Columbia Law School in 1994, in 1995, he also received a diploma from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. He interned at the United Nations and he stood in the December 1995 elections along with Zhvania, and both men won seats in parliament, standing for the Union of Citizens of Georgia, Shevardnadzes party. Saakashvili was chairman of the committee which was in charge of creating a new electoral system, an independent judiciary. Opinion surveys recognised him to be the second most popular person in Georgia and he was named man of the year by a panel of journalists and human rights advocates in 1997
24.
Abkhazian presidential election, 2005
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Presidential elections were held in the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia on 12 January 2005. On 5 December 2004 Bagapsh and Khadjimba agreed to new elections. In these elections they would run on a joint ticket, with Khadjimba as vice presidential candidate, on 17 December, Sergei Bagapsh was officially nominated by an initiative group. In the early morning of 23 December an explosion occurred in the centre of Sukhumi, later that day, Iakub Lakoba, who had come fifth and last in the first election, was nominated by an initiative group. Bagapsh and Lakoba were officially registered as candidates by the Central Election Commission on 28 December, Bagapsh and Khajimba garnered 91. 54% of the vote, making a second round unnecessary. On 2 June 2005, United Abkhazia suspended the membership of Sergei Bagapsh, as required by the Abkhazian constitution since he had become President
25.
Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician. Putin is the current President of the Russian Federation, holding the office since 7 May 2012 and he was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, President from 2000 to 2008, and again Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. During his second term as Prime Minister, he was the Chairman of the ruling United Russia Party, born in Leningrad, Putin studied German in high school and speaks the language fluently. He studied Law at the Saint Petersburg State University, graduating in 1975, Putin was a KGB Foreign Intelligence Officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring in 1991 to enter politics in Saint Petersburg. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsins administration, rising quickly through the ranks and becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999, when Yeltsin resigned. Putin won the subsequent 2000 Presidential election by a 53% to 30% margin, thus avoiding a runoff with his Communist Party of the Russian Federation opponent and he was re-elected President in 2004 with 72% of the vote. During Putins first presidency, the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, the growth was a result of the 2000s commodities boom, high oil prices, and prudent economic and fiscal policies. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third presidential term in 2008. The 2008 Presidential election was won by Dmitry Medvedev, who appointed Putin Prime Minister, in September 2011, after presidential terms were extended from four to six years, Putin announced he would seek a third term as president. He won the March 2012 Presidential election with 64% of the vote, under Putins leadership, Russia has scored poorly on both the Democracy index and the Corruption index. Putin has enjoyed high approval ratings during his career. In 2007, he was the Time Person of the Year, in 2015, he was #1 on the Times Most Influential People List. Forbes ranked him the Worlds Most Powerful Individual every year from 2013 to 2016, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, the youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina. His birth was preceded by the death of two brothers, Viktor and Albert, born in the mid-1930s, Albert died in infancy and Viktor died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad. Putins mother was a worker and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy. Early in World War II, his father served in the battalion of the NKVD. Later, he was transferred to the army and was severely wounded in 1942. On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No.193 at Baskov Lane and he was one of a few in the class of approximately 45 pupils who was not yet a member of the Young Pioneer organization
26.
Gali District, Abkhazia
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Gali district is a district of Abkhazia. Its capital is Gali, the town by the same name, Gali district was populated almost entirely by Mingrelians, a Georgian regional subdivision, in the pre-war Abkhazia. The majority of Georgians fled the following the inter-ethnic clashes in 1993–1994. Gali district is now the district of Abkhazia with ethnic Georgians constituting clear majority. Together with the Kodori Valley, Gali district is one of the two real troublespots while the situation is relatively peaceful in the rest of Abkhazia and it was a battlefield of the 1998 escalation of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. In the second half of the 17th century, the Shervashidze princes of Abkhazia succeeded in conquering the territories up the Inguri River including the Gali district, with the dissolution of the Principality of Abkhazia c. 1700, the district between the Galidzga to the Inguri came to be ruled by a branch of the Shervashidze family whose one member, Murzakan, gave to his new fiefdom the name Samurzakano. The upper class of this new principality was composed chiefly of the Georgian-speaking Abkhaz nobility, in contrast to the rest of Abkhazia largely Islamized under the Ottoman Empire, Samurzakano remained adherent to the Georgian Orthodox Christianity. Eventually the princedom came under the Mingrelian possession, but retained a degree of autonomy even after the expanding Imperial Russia established its protectorate over Mingrelia in 1804, in 1840, however, Russia outrightly annexed Samurzakano. In the 1860s–70s, the Abkhaz revolts and the persecution of Muslim population at the hands of Russian authorities forced many Abkhaz to become Muhajirs to the Ottoman possessions. The Orthodox Christian population of Samurzakano remained relatively unaffected though, the decline in Abkhaz population left Mingrelian a dominant culture in the area. Furthermore, some Georgian peasants from the bank of the Inguri River also emigrated to the right bank into Abkhazia where weaker practices of serfdom prevailed. This group was made up chiefly by the Mingrelians with a minority of Abkhaz, 38% and 35% of the districts population identified themselves as Mingrelian and Georgian respectively during the first Soviet census of 1926, with another 26% identifying themselves as Abkhaz. The latter group in Gali district declined greatly so that they formed only a few percent of its population, as the Soviet censuses carried out after 1926 didnt distinguish Georgians and Mingrelians as separate nationalities they together constituted the overwhelming majority in the district. Under Joseph Stalin, from 1944/5 to 1953, Abkhaz schools were closed, since then, some 40, 000–60,000 Georgians have sporadically returned to the Gali district, but the process was significantly thwarted by the outbreak of hostilities in May 1998. In response to the attempt by the Georgian guerrillas to recover the area, despite the criticism from opposition, Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia, refused to deploy troops against Abkhazia. A ceasefire was negotiated on May 20,1998, the hostilities resulted in hundreds of casualties on both sides and displaced an additional 30,000 –40,000 Georgians. Although many families came back, the clashes left some 1,500 homes and infrastructure, including some that had been recently rehabilitated with international funding
27.
Kodori Valley
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The Kodori Valley (also known as the Kodori Gorge, is a river valley in Abkhazia, Georgias breakaway autonomous republic. On August 12,2008, Russo–Abkhazian forces gained control of the Upper Kodori Valley and it is about 30 km down the coast from Abkhazias capital Sukhumi. At an elevation of 1,300 to 3,984 meters, the climate is alpine and winters are snowy. Annual precipitation 1,600 to over 2,000 mm, over 30 days with heavy rains per year. Around 180 days with snow cover, mean temperature, January, -3 C, April,3 C, July,14 C and October,5 C. Mean maximum temperature in July,28 C, the valley is populated by several upland villages, which are Lata, Omarishara, Shkhara and Zemo Azhara. Administratively, it was de facto and de jure a part of Upper Abkhazia, according to the last Georgian census, the population of the former Georgian-controlled part of the valley was 1,956, of which were 1,912 ethnic Georgians. The Abkhazian historic regions of Dal and Tsebelda occupied most of the Kodori Valley before the incorporation of Abkhazia into Russian Empire from 1810 to 1864 and its highland communities were independent of the central authority of Shervashidze-Chachba princes. Armenians, Georgians and Russians populated the lower part of the valley, the village of Lata was taken by Abkhazian forces on 24 and 25 March,1994. According to the Moscow Agreement, signed in May 1994, the line was drawn to the north-east of it so. Together with the Gali district it is one of the two areas, that remain populated by Georgians in the post-war Abkhazia, under UMOMIGs expanded mandate laid out in Resolution 937, the mission was given two tasks in the Kodori Valley,1. Monitor the withdrawal of troops of Georgia from the Kodori Valley to places beyond the boundaries of Abkhazia, in each case the hostages were released. Kodori Valley helicopter attack, On October 8,2001, a UNOMIG helicopter was shot down by unknown attackers, killing all nine aboard. The Russian air force carried out air strikes on the fighters and according to the authorities, around 15% of the population fled their homes. Georgia responded by moving troops into the area, a step condemned by Abkhazia, the Chechens were eventually defeated by Russian and Abkhazian forces. Russian military incident, On April 2,2002, Georgian and Abkhazian sides signed an agreement for Kodori Gorge. UNOMIG-monitored withdrawal of 350 Georgian troops ended on April 10, however,100 Russian ground forces entered the Kodori Gorge, without having any peacekeeping mandate and they were soon surrounded by the Georgian Defence Ministry forces. A likely armed conflict was prevented by President Eduard Shevardnadze, going to Kodori to bring the situation under control, the UN representatives in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict theater also condemned the Russian action
28.
Military of Abkhazia
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The Abkhazian Armed Forces are the military of Abkhazia. The Ministry of Defence and the General Staff of the Abkhazian armed forces were created on 12 October 1992. The basis of the forces was formed by the ethnic Abkhaz National Guard created early in 1992 prior to the outbreak of the war. Roughly 200,000 to 250,000 Georgian civilians became Internally displaced persons, most of the militarys weapons come from the Russian airborne division base in Gudauta, while others were captured from Georgian forces. On 24 November 2014 the governments of Abkhazia and Russia signed a treaty of cooperation that creates a joint force of troops from the two countries. Georgia regards the Abkhaz armed forces as unlawful military formations and accuses Russia of supplying and training the Abkhaz troops, partly in exchange for Abkhaz land or hotels. The Abkhaz deny this, saying they bought what they have on the market except for five sea cutters received from Russia. Sosnaliev himself is a Russian officer from the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic and held the same post during the Abkhazian war, similarly, former chief of staff, Major General Anatoly Zaitsev had previously served as deputy commander of the Transbaikal Military District in Russia. Another top official, Deputy Defence Minister Aleksandr Pavlushko is a Russian colonel, Georgia also regularly accuses Abkhazia of forcibly recruiting Georgian returnees from the Gali district into the armed forces. The Abkhaz military is primarily a force but includes small sea. In 2006, an anti-terrorist centre of some 200 personnel was created under the de facto ministry of interior, the de facto minister of finance estimated, in 2006, that 35 per cent of Abkhazia’s budget was spent on the military and police. On 8 May 2007, Minister of Defence and Vice Premier Sultan Sosnaliyev resigned and he was succeeded as Defence Minister by First Deputy Defence Minister Mirab Kishmaria, in an acting fashion from 10 May and permanently from 26 July onwards. On 14 April 2010, five Deputy Ministers of Defence were retired, Aslan Ankvab was appointed acting First Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief of Staff. On 21 May 2010, Beslan Tsvishba was also appointed First Deputy Minister of Defence, on 29 March 2011, Vladimir Vasilchenko succeeded Aslan Ankvab to become the new, permanent, Chief of Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defence. On 18 May 2015, retired Russian army general Anatoly Khrulyov was appointed Chief of the General Staff by President Raul Khajimba and they are authorised to keep registered weapons at home. The Abkhazian Navy consists of three divisions that are based in Sukhumi, Ochamchire and Pitsunda, four ships Project 1204 Shmel class PBR,657,658, and 328 were transferred from the Russian Navy in the late 1990s. An additional ship ex-AK-527 was also transferred and cannibalized for spares, the three Abkhaz ships did not take part in the 2008 South Ossetia conflict, but their state was unclear. As of 2005 the first two of them had one PSKA Project 1400M Grif class PC speed-boats each, the navy also includes several civil vessels that were equipped with guns and unguided rocket artillery systems
29.
Battle of the Kodori Valley
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The Battle of the Kodori Valley was a military operation during the Russo-Georgian War in the Upper Kodori Valley of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia. It was the part of Abkhazia, which was under Georgian control before this military conflict. On 9 August 2008, the Abkhaz military, with support by Russian forces, after three days, the Georgian military left the Upper Kodori Valley. Russia sent naval vessels to blockade Georgias Black Sea coast, according to the Russian navy, a group of ships from Russias Black Sea Fleet, including the flagship Moskva missile cruiser, arrived on 10 August 2008 near the Georgian border. The source in the Russian Navys headquarters claimed, that the purpose of the Black Sea Fleet vessels presence in this region is to aid to refugees. On 10 August 2008, the Georgian government said, that 6,000 Russian troops had rolled into South Ossetia from the neighbouring Russian province of North Ossetia and 4,000 more landed in Abkhazia. On the morning of 9 August 2008, the Abkhaz de facto deputy defense minister requested, UNOMIG then withdrew all 15 observers from the Upper Kodori Valley. The Abkhaz de facto authorities announced a decision, taken by president Bagapsh, on the afternoon, UNOMIG reported aerial bombardments of Georgian villages in the Upper Kodori Valley. On 10 August, the president of Abkhazia, Sergei Bagapsh and he gave both Georgian civilians and armed personnel an ultimatum to leave the Upper Kodori Valley. He also said, that the government of Abkhazia had requested Russia to take measures to strengthen the Abkhaz maritime border, Bagapsh said, that his decision to start a military operation against the Upper Kodori Valley was approved by the parliament. A second front against Georgia was opened, in a separate report by Interfax news agency, Sergei Bagapsh said, that its aviation is currently conducting an operation in the upper part of the Kodori gorge of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia. Shamba also said, Today was only the part of the operation by heavy artillery supported by aviation. Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was quoted by the Itar-Tass agency as saying that Georgia had defeated all attacks on the part of the Kodori gorge. On 10 August Abkhaz warplanes and artillery continued to pound Georgian positions for a day in a row. Bagapsh said, Abkhazia was acting independently, the separatist authorities of Abkhazia announced a full military mobilisation. The president of Abkhazia said, that around 1,000 special Abkhaz troops were involved in operations against Georgian forces and they were attacking the Georgians using warplanes, multiple rocket launchers and artillery. The operation will enter the next phase as planned, and you will learn about that, he said, adding that he would create a humanitarian corridor, allowing residents to flee. On 11 August 2008, the Abkhaz defense minister, Mirab Kishmaria, told the Russian news agency Interfax, on 12 August 2008, Abkhaz authorities announced a military offensive against Georgian troops in the Kodori gorge
