Who “rocked the situation” with the summer house
He said that the unrest in Abkhazia due to the transfer of the state lodge in the city of Pitsunda on the Black Sea coast to Russia was “artificially fed from outside”. RIA News Chairman of the Federation Council International Committee Grigory Karasin.
“The so-called friends of the storm are starting to organize this; there are some countries nearby that are interested in this,” the senator believes.
The parliamentarian explained that Russia and Abkhazia signed an agreement two years ago on the transfer of the first “former Stalin’s dacha”, Abkhazia only needed to ratify the document. He emphasized that the country’s parliament has already considered the issue and supports the agreement.
What happened is typical for Abkhazia, where power is constantly changing and “the president was the first to leave early under the influence of the crowds.” said “socialbites.ca” Deputy Chairman of the State Duma CIS Affairs Committee Konstantin Zatulin. According to him, local political forces use every excuse to defame and eliminate their rivals. For example, as it is now, the Abkhazian opposition, from behind their own booths, accuses the current government of “selling out Abkhazia”.
“It is generally shameful that a certain opposition in Abkhazia uses this particular justification to settle accounts with the authorities. They have enough internal problems to be the subject of internal debate. <…> Abkhazia really needs Russia’s support. <…>. But today, using demagogic slogans, people are trying to shake the situation around the country house in Abkhazia. They don’t care. The main thing for them is to overthrow the government under any pretext,” Zatulin emphasized.
The MP added that the opposition had actually unofficially told Moscow that it was not opposed to giving up the hut and would “be happy to sign any documents” once it came to power. He also assured that “no one in Russia claims to take Abkhazian lands into Russian territory or to tear off a piece of Abkhazia from Abkhazia.”
Request from the “Chief Guest”
The state dacha in Pitsunda was built by the decision of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in the mid-20th century. It covers an area of approximately 180 hectares. Zatulin noted that the politician spent his holidays at this dacha in the summer of 1964, and the party leadership in Moscow decided to take advantage of his absence and dismiss him.
Vladimir Putin also held some working meetings here. President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania highlightedthat the hut is “where our main guest comes from.”
In 1995, Russia received a summer house for free use. According to local laws, foreigners cannot buy real estate in Abkhazia, they can only rent it. According to Bzhania, despite this, from 2010 to 2020, the Russian government repeatedly asked Sukhum to officially take ownership of buildings and structures on the summer estate. In 2020, Putin personally “characteristically [ему] He asked Bzhania the same question and explained that Russia wants to renovate the dacha and turn it into a full-fledged residence for the President of the Russian Federation.
“The facilities built on the territory of the state lodge are about 60 years old. <…> No major renovations have been done here. I lived in this state lodge for two weeks last year. <…> many of those there fell into disrepair. All of this needs partial overhaul and perhaps demolition and new construction,” Bzhania opined.
The president of Abkhazia promised Moscow to solve the problem. Explaining himself to the citizens of his country, he said that Russia would receive “mainly buildings and structures, not land” and that Putin deserved this dacha. According to Bzhania, the Russian Federation has helped and continues to help Abkhazia a lot, all this time asking only for a summer house in return.
“We are not handing over this object to business structures, random individuals, it seems to me that we are handing over to a leader who has done a lot for Abkhazia. <…> “I am surprised by the debate that has arisen on this issue,” the politician concluded.
What is the opposition’s dissatisfaction?
But the opposition in Abkhazia thinks differently – the decision to transfer the dacha there was said to be unconstitutional and on December 26 started An open-ended rally near the parliament building. Adgur Ardzinba, head of the opposition Abkhaz People’s Movement, announced that the text of the agreement “contains articles that anger the public” and cannot be approved in its current form.
As Zatulin explained to socialbites.ca, Abkhazia decided to ratify the agreement on the transfer of the dacha, that is, to subject it to the approval procedure in parliament “for its own reasons”.
“There were problems here, I can’t say for sure from memory right now, but there were some shortcomings in this document that gave rise to opposition in the atmosphere of internal political turmoil in Abkhazia,” the deputy said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia stated December 26, on the correction of inaccuracies in the agreement on the state lodge. We were talking about the exact boundaries of the summer site on land and sea. Opponents of the agreement stated that Russia should receive another 115 hectares of sea area with a summer house in addition to the 180 hectares of reserves on the Black Sea coast.
Resolution of the Parliament of Abkhazia
Parliament of Abkhazia approved At the extraordinary meeting held on December 27, an agreement was reached on the transfer of the hut.
“Everyone was worried about this situation, and the MPs were too. <…> “Today we received a number of delegations and discussed a number of options for the adoption of this agreement to secure the republic,” said Parliament Speaker Lasha Ashuba, explaining what happened.
28 MPs attended the meeting (there are 35 in total)agreed to ratify the agreement 26.
At the same time, the parliament adopted in three sessions simultaneously various amendments to the legislation necessary in light of the situation in Pitsunda. These include the “special constitutional law” that MPs adopted after negotiations with the opposition. It states that Russia has leased a land and water area for 49 years with the possibility of extension, and cannot transfer them to “third parties”, otherwise the dacha will immediately return to the ownership of the republic.
“This agreement does not provide for the transfer of the land on which the facility is located to the Russian Federation. The area is leased for 49 years. “Only buildings whose maintenance and repair will be carried out by the Russian FSO are taken into ownership.” clarified Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic Mikhail Shurgalin.