Georgian Coast Guard to Seize Vessels Bound for Abkhazia

(Tbilisi, August 12, 2003, Civil Georgia) – The Georgian Border Guard Department vows to obstruct the illegal navigation of foreign vessels bound for Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia.

According to the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnypress, a Turkish company entitled Okan, which is involved in the exploitation of the Tkvarcheli coalfield, requested the Abkhaz de facto authorities to ensure the safe navigation of their vessels, which will export coal from Abkhazia to Turkey.

The de facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba, promised Turkish businessmen “to take every measure to protect the ships in the territo!
rial waters of Abkhazia.”

“The Georgian Coast Guard will probe all suspicious vessels bound for Abkhazia and back,” Eka Dondua, deputy spokesperson for the Georgian Border Guard Department, told Civil Georgia on August 12, while commenting on the Abkhaz de facto official’s statement.

Early in July, the Georgian coast guard seized a Turkish ship en route from Trabzon to Sochi, carrying 25,000 blank Russian passports printed in the Russian and Abkhaz languages.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian)