Abkhazia Activists Appeal to “Stop Bloodshed in Ukraine”
Activists from Russian-held Abkhazia have made a rare public appeal over Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling “for sanity and responsibility of all those who can stop the bloodshed and prevent a catastrophe of truly global proportions!”
“We, the residents of Abkhazia, who lived through a war thirty years ago lasting more than a year, call for an immediate stop to the bloodshed in Ukraine!” reads the appeal published by Abkhazia’s well-known journalist and public figure Nadezhda Venediktova on April 4 on Facebook.
“The deaths of people on both sides only exacerbate the existing contradictions, which must be resolved peacefully,” noted the letter, which fell short of mentioning Russia.
“First and foremost, we are all human beings, living and very vulnerable beings! If we forget our human commonality, we could destroy all life,” the signatories stated in the appeal .
The missive, along with Venediktova, was co-signed by other activists and public figures: Saida Alania, Rusudan Kobiakova, Larisa Katsia, Astanda Gitsba, Elena Zavodskaya, Arda Inal-Ipa, Olga Korneeva, Diana Kerselyan, Naala Kartozia, Aida Ladaria, Lyudmila Sagaria, Madina Gartskia, Asida Butba, Elona Turava, Said Gezerdava, Indira Agrba, Liana Kvarchelia, Azamat Bagatelia, Asida Lamia, Tsiala Tskua, Elita Kokoskeria.
In the comments section on Facebook, many have endorsed the letter. “I’m with you,” wrote Marianna Kotova, a well-known journalist in Abkhazia.
But many others disagreed with its spirit, with some going as far to call the signatories “the fifth column.”
Former Abkhaz chief prosecutor Alexei Lomia responded, channeling the Kremlin’s narrative: “Disarming the Ukrainian army to the number of 5,000 with small arms. Elimination of the Banderite legacy at its root (destruction of textbooks, symbols, criminal liability for supporting these ideas, etc.). Non-bloc status. Non-nuclear status. Bringing to justice all the provocateurs like Zelenskyy, Arestovich, Gordons, Yakovin and the like! After all this – I am for Peace!”
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