Sukhumi thanks countries that consider the rights of small peoples

De-facto Foreign Minister of Abkhazia Inal Ardzinba thanked the countries whose representatives did not support the politicized resolution presented by Georgia at the UN General Assembly. Ardzinba expressed gratitude to the Russian Federation, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Republic of Nicaragua, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Belarus, the People's Republic of China, the DPRK, the Republic of Burundi, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Republic of Sudan, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Zimbabwe.

According to the Minister, "as the voting results show, there are countries among the UN members that continue to adhere to the values ​​enshrined in the UN Charter and act from the principles of equality and respect for the rights of all peoples and nations."

“Together with these countries, we will continue to move along the path of building a multipolar and just world, where the rights of small peoples and nations will be taken into account,” Ardzinba said.

The UN General Assembly, at its 76th session, adopted a resolution recognizing the right of all refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This year, the resolution was supported by 95 countries, and 60 states were co-sponsors of the document. The document had not had such support since 2008 when Georgia first submitted the resolution to the UN General Assembly.

“The resolution condemns the violent demographic changes in the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia, reaffirms the right of IDPs to a dignified and safe return to their homes, regardless of ethnicity, and emphasizes the need to respect and protect their property rights,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

“The Georgian resolution on Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the UN General Assembly is only aimed at undermining the normalization in the region,” said Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Gennady Kuzmin. “Tbilisi’s true intentions can no longer be masked by imaginary concern for refugees and displaced persons,” Kuzmin stated, speaking at a meeting of the General Assembly. He called on Georgia and its partners to "finally stop irresponsible attacks" against separatist Tskhinvali and Sukhumi and "in practice show their commitment to a constructive solution of humanitarian issues based on the principles of peaceful coexistence."

De-facto State Security Service of Abkhazia: “Problems at the border are on the Russian side”

The report of the head of the Border Detachment of the State Security Service of Abkhazia Rustam Latipov at the meeting on preparations for the holiday season of 2022 was the shortest. As soon as Latipov reached the podium, the President of the Republic, Aslan Bzhania, interrupted him.

"I know the text of your speech, Rustam. We are not interested in major repairs on the other side. We are all aware of the enormous burden on our border guards. We are interested in the working hours at the Psou checkpoint. What has been done to facilitate the border crossing for vacationers this season," the head of state asked.

Latipov replied that at the checkpoint "Psou," the access control is carried out in a simplified form. For example, checking a bus takes about 10-15 minutes, while on the Russian side, it can take up to 2 hours.

Bzhania recalled that in 2014  Abkhazia and Russia concluded an agreement on an alliance and strategic partnership. “We must strive for what is written in it. It clearly states that the parties are committed to the free movement of citizens, goods, and services. Restrictions can only be for security reasons. Our valiant border guards and Russian colleagues must serve on the border with our enemy. In Psou, we need to get away from this, as the border guards are trained to deal with more serious issues,” he said.

“The President set the task to find opportunities to speed up the border crossing shortly. There is some kind of resource there so that checking buses in the adjacent territory takes not 2, but at least 1.5 hours,” Bzhania asked.

De-facto Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab answered this question. “In the past, we were able to negotiate with the Russian side. As a result, the check took about 10-15 minutes,” he said. According to Ankvab, it is necessary to meet with the relevant departments more often, raise critical issues, not be embarrassed by each other and tell the truth, and find out the role of the human factor, technology, and other factors circumstances in this problem. "Monitoring shows the following: under the same regime on any day of the week, a pedestrian crosses the border in 10-15 minutes, and under the same conditions, the crossing may take about two hours. It turns out that this does not depend on the load on the Adler MAP. It depends on how people work on the Russian side and ours. There is no other explanation... In my opinion, it is necessary to remove the human factor. Even under today's conditions, everything that happens can happen much faster," the Prime Minister said.

Aslan Bzhania noted that it is possible to try to return to this mechanism. To do so, it is necessary to appoint a person responsible for this issue from the Abkhaz side. He expressed readiness to meet with the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory. “We don’t need such a border, or rather, such a checkpoint with our neighbor. This is not in the interests of the citizens of our countries. This problem leaves a very bad aftertaste. The throughput capacity at the Adler checkpoint is ten times higher than our capabilities. Still, we don't have such traffic jams,” said Bzhania.

Abkhazia in dialogue on its recognition with dozens of countries

“[Georgia’s breakaway] Abkhazia will move along the path of international recognition of the state sovereignty of the country,” Foreign Minister of the republic Inal Ardzinba said, commenting on Yemen's proposal to Sukhumi to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“We will move along the path of international recognition of state sovereignty and the international legal personality of our country. Yemen is grateful for the dialogue. As you know, the country is in trouble. We agreed to wait while we form the basis for establishing diplomatic relations,” Ardzinba said.

The de-facto Foreign Minister noted that Abkhazia is developing "an active and interesting dialogue with partners with whom the republic does not yet have diplomatic relations." This, according to him, "dozens of countries."