De facto Abkhaz authorities adopt controversial ethnicity restoration law 

Lawmakers in Russian-occupied Abkhazia voted on legislative reforms that will make it easier for the ethnic Georgian majority in the Gali area to get passports to "restor[e] Abkhaz identity."

After the Kremlin-backed authorities stripped them of Abkhaz "citizenship" in 2014 and 2017, leaving about 30,000 ethnic Georgians in Gali are without any political rights. To get the papers, however, Gali inhabitants would have to alter their Georgian surnames to Abkhaz ones.

A new section in the de-facto Abkhaz legislation on acts of civil status specifies that foreign nationals and stateless individuals residing in separatist Abkhazia now have the right to "restore Abkhaz ethnicity." Article 5(a) of the occupied region's statute on "citizenship" classifies anybody of Abkhaz ethnicity as a "citizen," regardless of where they live or if they have a passport from another country, and unless they promote "changing the sovereign status" of Abkhazia, among other things.

As a result, before the final vote, some Abkhaz parliamentarians raised concerns about the proposed revisions, claiming that the new laws may allow Georgian people to attain Abkhaz "citizenship."

Meanwhile, Speaker Valery Kvarchia praised the bill, saying that "how we vote on these modifications would determine how we will be remembered in history," according to Apsnypress.

Previous Kremlin-backed leadership's proposals to grant Gali residents political rights only if they "restore Abkhaz ethnicity" were described by the Council as "unacceptable experiments on the Georgian population" and "a new form of discrimination against Georgians – an attempt to forcefully change their ethnicity."

The plan has its detractors in separatist Abkhazia, where a powerful group of hardliner Abkhaz war veterans cautioned parliament not to support the now-adopted legislation back in April 2021. Abkhaz parliamentarians appeared to be compelled to withdraw legislation passed just a day before that would allow ethnic Georgians in the Gali area to "restore" their Abkhaz identity and citizenship.

Following pressure from the opposition Aruaa group's hardliner war veterans, de-facto Abkhaz MPs allegedly met in an undisclosed emergency session on March 22 to repeal the bill. A protest march was scheduled for the next day in Aruaa.

Temur Nadaraia, an Aruaa member and former chairman of the Abkhaz-controlled Gali district, flagged that some lawmakers were unaware that Gali inhabitants who claimed Abkhaz ethnicity would "automatically" acquire citizenship. The members apologised, pulled the already passed measure for a third hearing, and voted it down, according to Nadaraia. He claimed to have been there at the meeting.

Veterans are also drafting a plea to the "parliament" and Abkhaz leader Aslan Bzhania "to place a moratorium on mass ‘passportisation’ in Gali district until the conclusion of the integration operations.”

The controversial Abkhaz ethnicity restoration law, which targets ethnic Georgians in the Gali area, is still in effect, according to “Speaker of Parliament” Valery Kvarchia. He said that his colleagues broke the legislative standing norms when they hastened the law's repeal in an extraordinary session, just one day after it was passed. Speaker Kvarchia, who spearheaded the controversial reforms, said that the legislators had failed to submit a written and signed application, which was necessary to convene the session.

He went on to say that his deputy, Mikhail Sangulia, presided over the meeting in violation of the law. Sangulia, Kvarchia said, was only permitted to preside over the meeting on his behalf. Kvarchia told "I did not entrust anything to anyone and had no idea that a meeting would be place."

Construction of an oil depot ignited environmental concerns Abkhazia

The development of an oil storage near the Bzipi River in the Gagra area has sparked environmental concerns in  sepafratist Abkhazia

After a March 18 report on a local Telegram channel, stating that the building company had not examined the project's environmental impact, the public appears to have learnt about the depot, which has been in the works for two years. The discovery sparked outrage over the secrecy and perceived disregard for the ecology in the area."I sincerely hope that this (story) is false. Otherwise, you're either creating your own death or have gone insane," Asida Kortua, an Abkhaz activist, said on Facebook. "Everything that has to do with oil is really significant. We have a unique ecology, mountains, and the sea; this is the only resource we have today, and it must be maintained," she said.

According to an Abkhaz TV storey from March 19, the depot is being built by a local company, Bzyb Terminal, under the supervision of a Turkish inspection and quality control organisation, PGM, which also works with Russian contractors.

The project calls for the construction of 16 storage facilities for the Abkhaz business Apsny Oil to stockpile gasoline. Others, however, would be permitted to use the depot's services, according to the leadership. Beslan Blabba, the director of Bzyb Terminal, rejected earlier allegations that the firm was developing an oil refinery with Abkhaz TV, stating that the company is only building storage facilities in the region. Blabba said that residents were not opposed to the project, and that it would benefit local infrastructure such as roads, power, and fire protection.

Kortua said that information regarding a project like an oil depot should be made public from the start, and that the public, especially environmentalists, should be consulted about the proposed building.

Saveliy Chitanava, chair of the Abkhaz "state committee for ecology and the environment," stated that no firms engaged in the building had contacted him to ask for his advice. According to him, the committee has not given any permissions for the project.

However, he emphasised that the building site was once an industrial base for reinforced concrete manufacturing, and that the "nature of the activity" is simply changing. He reassured that the property "lying roughly 500 metres from the riverside – in general, there is no specific tragedy there," while stressing the corporation would need to approach the committee to obtain their evaluation on the reorganisation.

Second round of parliamentary elections in separatist Abkhazia

The Abkhaz de-facto Central Election Commission said that the second round of parliamentary elections in separatist Abkhazia began across the nation, with 96 voting locations available in 22 seats.

"Observers are stationed at all polling places," the Commission stated, adding that the elections would be legal regardless of turnout and that the victors would need to garner the most votes. This round should include at least 25% of all electors who are able to vote.

In the first round of Abkhazia's sixth parliament elections, voter turnout above 50% or exceeded the 25% threshold in all 35 seats. The polls were found to be legitimate. The current parliament's tenure will end in March. 137 candidates competed for 35 seats in the parliament, including 24 from four political parties and 113 from initiative groups, in one-seat constituencies. Around 40 observers, including members of the CEC of Russia and South Ossetia, the State Duma (lower house), and the Federation Council, watched the voting in Abkhazia (upper house).

Separatist Tskhinvali rejects to work with the International Criminal Court 

The Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) Kremlin-backed authorities have stated that they "categorically refuse" working with the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose prosecutor issued an arrest warrant in 2008 for three former de facto Tskhinvali officials accused of war crimes.

South Ossetia's de facto foreign ministry stated, "the utterly prejudiced in political sense platform selected by this body as a foundation for inquiry of events of August 2008 has nothing to do with justice." It claimed that the ICC's recent news "caused complete bewilderment in South Ossetia," because "these officials, who were accused of war crimes against Georgian prisoners of war and civilians, had made every possible effort to save those persons lives, to ensure their security in South Ossetia's territory, and later to transfer them to the Georgian side."

It went on to say that "such a particular brand of justice, which shamelessly ignores unpleasant facts, cannot be tolerated in a country that has been subjected to military invasion."

Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the Hague-based court, has submitted an application for arrest warrants for three de facto S. Ossetian authorities who have reasonable reasons to suspect they are responsible for war crimes perpetrated in and around South Ossetia between August 8 and 27, 2008.

Lt. Gen. Mikhail Mindzaev, de facto interior minister from 2005 to 2008; Hamlet Guchmazov, former head of the de facto interior ministry's preliminary detention facility; and David Sanakoev, current lawmaker, and former presidential representative for human rights in South Ossetia are among the officials.

According to the ICC prosecutor, the three individuals are responsible for unlawful detention, torture, inhumane treatment, personal dignity violations, hostage kidnapping, and unlawful transport.

Moscow slams the ICC Prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants for South Ossetian officials

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry (MID), lambasted International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan for issuing arrest warrants for three de facto South Ossetian leaders for suspected war crimes committed during and after the 2008 Russo-Georgian conflict.

Zakharova stated the Prosecutor "has decided to participate to the anti-Russia frenzy that is raging in the United States, the EU, and the entities they govern" in a statement released late on March 22. "The timing of the arrest warrants and the people implicated have demonstrated clearly that the ICC has always been and continues to be an obedient instrument of the West," she added.

During the Russo-Georgian conflict, the MID official again reaffirmed Moscow's official statement that "the dictatorship of (then-Georgian President) assaulted peaceful Tskhinvali and Russian peacekeepers." She said the ICC had "remained unconcerned" about the "many complaints from civilian victims of that attack."

Zakharova also chastised the ICC Prosecutor for seeking the warrants fourteen years after the conflict ended. She also stated that because Russia is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, it is not obligated to assist with the court. According to Zakharova, the Hague-based court "has no jurisdiction" over the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.