Russian Artillery Holds Exercises in Breakaway Abkhazian Mountains
Russian artillery from the military base located in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia held a live-fire exercise on mountainous and coastal terrain in the region on Wednesday.
The information was released by both Russian and Abkhazian media outlets.
"The artillery units performed a live-fire exercise using self-propelled Akatsiya artillery guns, Sani mortars and D-30 howitzers against targets at distances of up to 15km that simulated an adversary’s armor, command posts and infantry amassments,” the statement of the Southern Military District reads.
It added that the troops held more than ten live-fire exercises, of which half were conducted at night.
The statement underlined that all the exercises were held in tactical fields equipped with modern technical means that allow the simulation of a war environment.
Military cooperation between Russia and occupied Abkhazia was fully launched after Russia recognized Abkhazia and the other breakaway region of Georgia, South Ossetia, as independent states in the wake of the August War 2008.
After the war, which left 20% of the Georgian territory occupied by Russia, Russia set up military bases in these regions and deployed its troops there.
In addition to this, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised de facto Abkhazian President Raul Khajimba he would protect the “republic’s” safety and security.
In a letter sent to the self-declared president, where Putin congratulated Khajimba on the anniversary of “the Independence Day of Abkhazia,” the Russian President noted that “relations between the two countries on the basis of the principles of alliance and strategic partnership are developing dynamically.”
“I would like to assure you that Russia will continue to assist in ensuring Abkhazia's national security as well as in resolving socio-economic issues,” Putin said in a statement.
A week before that, Putin ordered the signing of an agreement to allocate funds to modernize breakaway Abkhazia’s armed forces.
An executive order was published on the legal information website last Monday.
To note, the so called legal framework of bilateral cooperation between Russia and occupied Abkhazia includes more than 100 bilateral documents at various levels, including the fundamental “Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance” signed on September 17, 2008 and the “Treaty of Alliance and Strategic Partnership” on November 24, 2014, that envisages creation of a joint force of troops from both sides.
In addition to this, Russia has traditionally been a key trading partner of breakaway Abkhazia and amounts to 74.5% of the total foreign trade turnover of the republic.
In 2018, Russia's trade with occupied Abkhazia amounted to $258.6 million, including Russian exports, $192.4 million, and imports, $66.2 million. According to the results of January-March 2019, the volume of mutual trade turnover amounted to $49.9 million, including Russian exports at $38.9 million and imports at $10.9 million.
The de facto Abkhazian regime claims that a draft federal budget for 2020–2022 has been submitted to the State Duma of Russia, which takes into account funds for the provision of socio-economic assistance to occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
“For cooperation with Abkhazia, Russia will allocate 1.7 billion Russian Rubles ($26.001 mln) in 2020, 1.9 billion ($29.501 mln) in 2021, and 249 million Rubles ($3.808 mln) in 2022. It has also been proposed to allocate 1.5 billion Rubles ($22.935 mln) to assist South Ossetia in 2020, 1.7 billion ($26.001 mln) in 2021, and 163 million ($2.492 mln) in 2020,” Abkhazian media reports.
Occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia are only recognized by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria. The rest of international society says Abkhazia and South Ossetia are parts of Georgia and call on Russia to fulfill the terms of the 2008 ceasefire agreement and withdraw its forces from the breakaway territories.
By Tea Mariamidze
Image source: frontnews.eu