Newspaper: Russian Officers to Get Key Abkhazia Defense Posts

According to the 24 Hours daily, the newly appointed Abkhazian defense minister, Sultan Sosnaliev, who is a Russian citizen from the Kabardino-Balkaria republic, has sacked the top officers in the region who are of Abkhaz ethnicity and intends to apponit a general staff from the North Caucasian and Russian military. Most of these officers served in the Soviet army and later in Abkhazia under the banners of the North Caucasus Mountaneous People’s Confederation.

Gen. Sosnaliev served as Defense Minister of Abkhazia during the conflict and coordinated offensives against the Georgian forces in 1992-93. The Newspaper claims that Sosnaliev’s decision to appoint North Caucasian officers indicates a certain mistrust towards the Abkhaz, as well as a decision to strengthen the Abkhazia military.

24 Hours also reported that the Deputy Defense Minister of Abkhazia Gen. Gennady Zaytsev once served as a military advisor to Syria under Hafez Assad.