Russia adds two more Abkhazian journalists to foreign agents registry

Two more Abkhazian journalists — Izida Chaniya and Nizfa Arshba — have been added to Russia’s registry of foreign agents, following the inclusion of Inal Khashig earlier in March.

According to the Russian Ministry of Justice, both Chaniya and Arshba ‘disseminated false information about decisions made by public authorities of the Russian Federation and the policies they pursue, as well as about the electoral system’.

In Chaniya’s case, The ministry additionally claimed that she ‘took part in distributing messages and materials of foreign agents to an unlimited number of people’ and that she had been collaborating with an online resource that was recognised by Russia as being ‘undesirable’. The ministry did not specify which organisation this was referring to.

In contrast, the ministry claimed that Arshba was the ‘founder and director of a foreign publication’, in their official statement regarding her inclusion in the foreign agents registry.

Similar reasons were given as the basis for Khashig’s inclusion in the registry, with the additional claim that he interacted with ‘foreign political figures’.

All three journalists, in addition to running their own Telegram channels, also collaborated with international media both as experts and as journalists. In particular, they worked with RFE/RL’s Georgian service — Russia declared RFE/RL an ‘undesirable organisation’ in February 2024, having previously labelled the outlet a ‘foreign agent’ in 2017.

Despite the fact that all three journalists have carried out their activities exclusively on the territory of Abkhazia — which has not recognised RFE/RL as an undesirable organisation — no Abkhazian officials have commented on the designations by Russian authorities.

An increased sense of Russian control

In Abkhazia, the accusations of betrayal and cooperation with undesirable organisations were treated with skepticism, especially given that all the civil society organisations with which the journalists collaborated with were accredited in Abkhazia.

According to lawyer Irakli Bzhinava, there has been a recent tightening in Russia’s policy towards its citizens living abroad, creating a unique situation in Abkhazia, where the majority of the population are dual citizens of Russia. While until recently, Russian authorities did not create any special demands for their citizens living in Abkhazia, now, Russian passport holders are recognised exclusively as citizens of Russia, and their activities are considered without any allowance given to their place of residence.

‘If these actions are a form of indirect influence on our people because of our unwillingness to sell our coast, then we need to show restraint and will. And the leadership of Abkhazia must respond to this’, Bzhinava told Apsnypress.

‘It is abnormal when the majority of citizens of independent Abkhazia have citizenship of neighboring Russia. In addition to rights, this also entails responsibilities’, he added.

Bzhinava also considered the recent statement by the chair of Russia’s Investigative Committee,  Alexander Bastrykin, about protecting Russian citizens on the territory of Abkhazia to be a warning sign that Russia ‘is beginning to try to extend its domestic legislation to the territory of sovereign Abkhazia’.

According to other civil society representatives, the recognition of Abkhazian citizens as foreign agents is the result of internal political struggle.

‘The policy of using external repressions works, among other things, on the image of an unblemished, “clean” president’, lawyer Said Gezerdaa wrote on Telegram.

‘ “ The president met”, “The president congratulated”, “The president opened” — these are the only official headlines, and there is no reaction to the ongoing persecution. By remaining silent, the head of state actually confirms that he is nothing more than the leader of the electorate that elected him, and not the entire people’, Gezerdaa continued.

He alleged that if such processes continue, Abkhazia’s independence will be at risk.

‘Outsourcing repression is a monstrously cynical act. Silence and support for such a policy are clearly read as its approval and disloyalty to one’s own state, and this is fertile ground for the complete loss of sovereignty and freedoms’, Gezerdaa wrote.

In contrast, the co-director of the oldest civil society organisation in Abkhazia, the Centre for Humanitarian Programmes, Arda Inal-Ipa, has claimed that everything is a ‘misunderstanding’.

‘Misunderstandings and delusions will undoubtedly dissipate, and disinformation and slander will certainly be exposed! All sorts of lists of “unreliable” and “foreign agents”, which were secretly compiled by the unclean, trembling hands of a couple of our hapless compatriots, will become useless pieces of paper’, she wrote on Facebook.

While only three names have so far been publicised, OC Media learned that information is being spread that at least 70 people — including public figures, businesspersons, and journalists who actively worked with opposition forces during the election campaign — have been added to Russia’s foreign agents registry.

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.

Russia adds Abkhazian journalist to foreign agent registry

Inal Khashig was reportedly the first Abkhazian journalist to be added to the registry.

OC MediaXandie (Alexandra) Kuenning