Russian Press on Abkhazia – December 7

Russian press deemed a surprise agreement between former presidential rivals Sergey Bagapsh and Raul Khajimba worthy of headlines on their front pages just beside the latest developments in Ukraine. Opposition leader Sergey Bagapsh and pro-governmental presidential contender Raul Khajimba signed an accord on December 6 envisaging holding of the repeat presidential elections, in which Bagapsh will run as the presidential candidate and Raul Khajimba as for Vice-President.

The state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta in its front-page article believes that the outgoing Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba and his favorite Raul Khajimba had to compromise.

“Authorities actually compromised by a last-minute agreement to discuss Bagapsh’s proposal. Chief of the [Abkhaz power company] ChernoMorEnergo [Sergey Bagapsh] was proposing for a long time Raul Khajimba to take over the Vice-President’s position, which will have more powers than before. Currently Abkhaz Vice-President is in charge of carrying out particular tasks of the President, which eventually means that the Vice-President is the representative position,” the Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes.

The paper continues that the negotiations were hard and burdensome and not everyone was satisfied by the outcome of talks.

“Opponents were negotiating during the night and day. But not all the citizens of the republic received the news over agreement with satisfaction; some of them even consider that they have been let down. Several thousand supporters of Bagapsh gathered outside his office in Sukhumi demanding from him to hold scheduled presidential inauguration,” the Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

The daily Kommersant’s reporter described in an article published on December 7 a scene outside Sergey Bagapsh’s elections headquarters. The stance of Bagapsh supporters, which were gathered outside the office, clearly shows that they are not very happy about their leader’s decision.

The Kommersant reports that Sergey Bagapsh was trying to convince his supporters during an hour-long conversation on December 6 that signing of an agreement was the only right decision, which helped to avoid armed confrontation.

“Have you agreed this decision with those opposition parties which supported you?.. Who is the guarantor that you won’t be let down?..” supporters were asking Bagapsh, the Kommersant reported.

The paper writes that according to the agreement repeat presidential polls will be held before January 13, 2005. Bagapsh will run as President and Khajimba as – Vice-President. “In case one of the sides violates an agreement another side will come into power,” the Kommersant reports.

“But different scenario is also possible… Moscow, which plays a crucial role in Abkhazian developments, might support absolutely different, a new candidate, who may become the new President,” the Kommersant supposes.

The daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta also focuses on public reaction over the agreement.

“Mood of the people gathered at the headquarters of Khajimba and Bagapsh was not optimistic. Opinion polls, carried out by the journalists of the Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress among the supporters of both Bagapsh and Khajimba, showed that they are inclined to think that the compromise will be short-lived,” the Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

The paper believes that Bagapsh was forced to compromise. The Nezavisimaya Gazeta quotes Aleksey Malashenko of Carnegie Moscow Center, that Bagapsh could not resist Moscow’s mounting pressure.

“As a punishment for uncompromising stance of Bagapsh, Moscow closed its railway with Abkhazia and banned import of agricultural products from Abkhazia. But Moscow has anyway failed in this situation, as [Russia] has lost the most important – trust of the Abkhaz people,” political analyst Aleksey Malashenko told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta.