The Kremlin removes the most important protest trigger in Abkhazia — political scientist

Russia agrees with Abkhazia that the investment agreement between the countries will not be implemented in the form in which it was, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said during a meeting with Abkhaz politician Badra Gunba on February 6.

"We will return to its consideration and ensure, of course, a balance of mutual interests, including for the population and business of Abkhazia. It will be a document that will take into account the interests of all parties," he said.

Gunba, in turn, said that Abkhazia will continue to create conditions for attracting investments from Russia.

"This is a very important direction for us. At the same time, I would like the balance of interests to be preserved. These are the interests of investors and the interests of citizens of our country, our state, and the business community. We are committed to attracting investments from Russia. In recent years, more than 25 billion rubles have been attracted as part of our activities in the form of investments in the economy of Abkhazia. And we will create additional favorable conditions in the future," he said.

As EADaily reported, the intention of the parliament to ratify the agreement with Russia on investments in Abkhazia led to protests by the opposition, which saw in the document infringement of the interests of the Abkhaz side. As a result of the protests, President Aslan Bzhania resigned. Early elections are scheduled for February 15.

Commenting on Russia's resumption of aid to Abkhazia, political analyst Maxim Zharov said that the Kremlin removes (at least before the elections) the most important protest trigger in Abkhazia — the notorious investment agreement.

"It is unclear why Moscow could not say this in November. Then there would be no early elections in Abkhazia. So, instead of frontal pressure and primitive distortions of the statements of Abkhaz politicians (including the acting President of the republic), the Kremlin chose a tactic of total stress relief almost a week before the elections. Let's see what this will lead to as a result," Zharov said.