Russia Profile
May 25, 2009
A Boomerang of a Rebellion
Citizens of Abkhazia and South Ossetia Increasingly Oppose Russia’s Involvement in Their Affairs
By Albina Kovalyova
The breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia may have been recognized by Russia as independent states, but opposition in each of them is growing increasingly agitated. Last week saw various opposition groups come out and protest against their countries’ governmentsa sign that tension in the Caucasus is growing. On Thursday some one hundred and fifty South Ossetians held an unauthorized protest in front of the Russian Duma in Moscow, while in Abkhazia opposition groups united to voice their discontent against the cooperation between their country and Russia.
Opposition in Abkhazia was enraged by the meeting of the country’s President Sergei Bagapsh and the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on May 15. The meeting was criticized as being against the “national interests” of the republic, as many have been angered by the purchase of the Sukhumi airport terminal by a Russian company and the handing over of Abkhazia’s railroads to the control of the Russian Railways. Government critics are weary of the influence Russia has over Abkhazia’s major assets. In a written statement, the opposition political council “The Forum for National Unity of Abkhazia” and the high council of the social veterans of the Patriotic War of Abkhazia, “Aura,” claimed that “the president has said that the reason for the handing over of the railroads is to pay back a two billion ruble loan, which will now be paid for with the country’s inert materials. This kind of scheme could have only been created by a very sophisticated economical ‘genius’.” Members of the opposition fear that Abkhazia’s involvement with Russia will preclude the country from achieving genuine independence and will only intensify the grip that Russia already has. They also believe that Russia will use its strength to install its own government and regulatory mechanisms on the state.
Opposition members also accused Putin of trying to persuade the Abkhazian president to amend the country’s property law in order to make it easier for Russian citizens to make purchases. “Our people should not be treated like savages who can be stripped of their property for the price of a necklace,” they said in the same statement. The conflict over the issue of property rights for non-Abkhazians dates back to the agreement between Russia and Abkhazia for a joint border patrol that came into place earlier this month. The opposition accused the Russian border guards of hoping to use this new agreement to secure property for themselves in Abkhazia. Inan Hashig of the Chegemskaya Pravda daily, an Abkhazian newspaper, said Russians could price locals out of the housing market. “If Russians are allowed to buy property here, then in a few years the ethnic Abkhazian population will disintegrate. It will affect our citizens who are not able to buy their own apartments here, unlike the Muscovites,” he told the Kommersant daily.
The main opposition figure in Abkhazia is Beslan Butba, the owner of several restaurants and hotels, and the creator of the local television channel Abaza. The Abkhazian authorities seem to have recognized Butba as a threat, as they have prevented the nationwide broadcast of his channel on the grounds that it was originally registered as a local Sukhumi channel, and that it clearly had a political agenda.
The South Ossetian opposition, meanwhile, accused their country’s President Eduard Kokoity of pocketing the money that Russia had allocated from its federal budget to South Ossetia to help it recover after last year’s war with Georgia. The opposition here is led by Albert Dzhussoyev, a Russian-based businessman who has threatened to take down the president if the latter did not resign. Apart from the disapproving opposition, Kokoity’s administration has also been at odds with the Kremlin over the control of the aid funds.
Alexander Konovalov, the president of the Institute of Strategic Affairs, agrees with the opposition’s sentiments. “I think sooner or later it will be necessary to take down Kokoity because he is absolutely mediocre and inappropriate. There have been a lot of materials available for the building up of South Ossetia, but none of them have been truly invested,” he said. The disagreement between the Kremlin and Tskhinvali about how the Russian aid should be spent and monitored suggests that Russia does not trust the country’s leader, either.
The instabilities in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia seem similar. Both countries have declared themselves to be independent states, but have been recognized only by Russia and Nicaragua. This leaves them little choice but to cooperate with Russia. It is this very cooperation that is driving the Abkhazian discontent, while in South Ossetia, the main problem seems to be the incompetence of the government. But despite Butba’s threat to cause a revolutionary protest that would bring down the country’s leader, it seems that Abkhazia is standing on firmer ground. “Bagapsh is a very different leader. Although he has been criticized for being close to Russia and this may threaten Abkhazia’s independence, he is still much more experienced as a politician and is able to negotiate,” said Konovalov.
But the opposition members in Abkhazia say that they are angered by the taking away of their independence. “People are beginning to say that we had independence for fifteen years and now that is being taken away from us,” Hashig told Kommersant. He added that he thought that if Russia’s hold on Abkhazia continues, it was conceivable that the country’s president would be impeached.
Abkhazia has good prospects thanks to its geography and relatively (compared to South Ossetia) ethnically homogenous population. The country boasts a coastline which could potentially give it access to a trade route independent of Russia. The coastline, a warm climate and picturesque scenery would make it very attractive for tourism (in the Soviet era it was a favorite destination for high ranking party officials). It is then perhaps understandable that the natives are bitter about Russians coming in to work on this land. Not only will Russian companies have access to the land through the railroad networks, but also a new Russian project will introduce a team of 100,000 Russian workers to gather “inert materials” from the country in preparation for the 2014 Olympics in nearby Sochi. Despite its relatively favorable position, it does not seem that Abkhazia would have much of a future without Russia.
For South Ossetia, the prospects of an independent state are even more unlikely. At least until last summer’s war, in the aftermath of which ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population took place, it was more of a patchwork of Georgian and Ossetian villages than a homogonously “Ossetian” region, and the economy is mostly agricultural. It has no coastline and its only open border is with Russia. With less than ten percent of the country’s land populated and the economy struggling, it seems that a change of leader is more imminent than a change of allies.