Political deadlock in Abkhazia as President Bzhaniya clings to power

Following the dramatic events of last week, which culminated with protesters storming the Abkhazian parliament building and demanding the resignation of President Aslan Bzhaniya, the political situation remains at a standstill. 

Bzhaniya suggested he was open to vacating his position over the weekend if the protesters vacated the parliament, but added that he would nonetheless run for president again in the presidential election scheduled for the spring of 2025. 

On Sunday, protesters demolished fences outside of the parliament building and refused to leave. 

In response to Bzhaniya’s concession, opposition leader Adgur Ardzinba said Bzhaniya should resign ‘unconditionally’, and rejected the notion that he could run for president again. 

Kan Kvarchia, another opposition leader, said on Friday that the government had two options: the resignation of the president and his team, with the governing duties taken over by parliamentary speaker Lasha Ashuba, or the resignation of of the president and his team and the appointment of a ‘compromise’ figure as a caretaker until the election. 

Ardzinba said Bzhaniya was already an ‘illegitimate president’. 

Speaking from his hometown of Tamysh, where he went after protesters stormed the parliament on Friday, Bzhaniya accused the opposition of attempting a coup. 

‘Despite the attempted coup d’état, we continue to work’, Bzhaniya said. 

‘Obey the orders and commands of the president. There is a president, there is law, there is a homeland that you and I must serve’. 

Gunfire at Abkhazia’s state telecom company

Late on Sunday night, gunfire erupted outside of the Abkhazian State Television and Radio Company (AGTRK). 

While it appears no one was hurt, the incident was reportedly the first time that firearms have been used in Abkhazia’s latest political crisis. 

It also quickly prompted divided reactions and contradictory claims of responsibility. 

According to the press service of the president’s office, ‘a group of unknown persons in 15 cars’ opened fire outside the building. 

The purpose of the attack was to ‘intimidate journalists’, the press service said, adding that it did ‘not rule out a second attack’. 

At the same time, the presidential Information Centre described the incident differently, and accused the attackers as being ‘presumably representative’ of the opposition. 

The Information Centre also claimed the attackers had attempted to ‘seize’ the building, and said security officers were the first to open fire, not the unknown assailants. 

In response, the opposition-affiliated Telegram channel Apsny Habar said that ‘Aslan Bzhaniya’s Information Centre lies even more than Aslan Bzhaniya’. 

‘Since Bzhaniya has lost control of the presidential administration, parliament, and cabinet of ministers, the Information Centre has to lie, lie, and lie again’. 

Apsny Habar added that having already insinuated the opposition was behind the shooting, the government would soon point the blame directly at Ardzinba and other individual leaders. 

Russia responds

Russia has played a complex and somewhat contradictory role in the protest movement so far. 

A controversial law that would create preferential treatment for Russians to invest in Abkhazia served as the catalyst for the crisis, with the opposition arguing that the law would restrict Abkhazia’s autonomy. The region is heavily subsidised by Moscow and dependent on aid and energy supplies. 

At the same time, both the opposition and the government have made it clear there is little disagreement about the overall state of Abkhaz-Russia relations. Opposition leaders and ordinary demonstrators have emphasised the protest movement is not against Russia, but rather against the law and Bzhaniya’s government. 

At Friday’s protest, demonstrators chanted ‘Russia’ and ‘Putin’ and reiterated ‘there are no anti-Russian forces here’. 

Following brief comments from Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, who blamed the opposition for ‘provoking an escalation of the conflict’, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Moscow wants a ‘speedy normalisation of the situation’. 

Peskov added that relations between Russia and Abkhazia are ‘a very important priority of our foreign policy’.

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.