Abkhaz Opposition Leader Wants Union State with Russia, Belarus

Abkhaz opposition leader Adgur Ardzinba has said while Abkhazia should not become part of Russia, it shall strive to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus.

“The question of Abkhazia joining the Russian Federation is not on the agenda. In my opinion, in the medium term Abkhazia should seek to join the treaty “On creation of the union state” between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,” Russian news site Gazeta.ru cited Ardzinba as saying.

“All the more so as for many purposes specified in the second article of this treaty, Russia has achieved much more… progress with Abkhazia than with the Republic of Belarus,” Ardzinba added.

Adgur Ardzinba is a former “economy minister” of Russian-occupied Abkhazia and runner-up of the 2020 Abkhaz leadership race, in which he lost to Aslan Bzhania. In October 2020, he formed Abkhaz People’s Movement, an opposition outfit.

In December 2021, during a massive opposition rally against the de facto administration in Sokhumi, Ardzinba criticized Bzhania over his remarks over “sharing sovereignty” Moscow.

“People who accidentally found themselves in power today do not understand the very concept of sovereignty… They have no idea how to run an independent state,” Ardzinba said then.

Ardzinba’s remarks come as both Abkhaz officials and opposition forces ruled out prospects of following the suit of S. Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov, who recently renewed talks on achieving the annexation of Tskhinvali region by Russia.

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