Kirienko’s Visit to Abkhazia

Abkhaz-Russian relations are resetting: the Kremlin’s new curator of Abkhazia visited Sukhumi.

The change in curatorship occurred last week—Sergey Kirienko, the First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration, has been tasked with overseeing cooperation with Abkhazia, replacing Dmitry Kozak. Just a few days later, Kirienko, who, by the way, is originally from Sukhumi, arrived in Abkhazia. His predecessor, Kozak, never made this visit.

Contrary to the expectations of some experts, Kirienko’s visit to Abkhazia was not related to the presidential elections scheduled for February 15. Yes, he met with the ruling party’s candidate, Badra Gunba, but this was part of an inspection of the construction of the Sukhumi airport.

Kirienko also met with acting president of Abkhazia Valeri Bganba and the speaker of parliament Lasha Ashuba, visited Sukhumi School No. 2, where he once studied, a university, an art gallery under renovation, the Russian Drama Theater, a children’s hospital construction site… and even had coffee and chatted with regulars at a local café, where residents engage in political debates.

The change of curator has clearly benefited Russian-Abkhaz relations. At the very least, Russian federal channels no longer refer to Abkhazia as a dependent that owes something to its “benefactor.”

It also seems that discussions about supposed “anti-Russian forces” in Abkhazia have stopped, and the opposition is no longer labeled as enemies of the Kremlin. It appears Moscow is ready to work with anyone the Abkhaz people choose as their president on February 15.

And most importantly, it seems Russia’s position on the controversial Russian-Abkhaz investment agreement has changed—an agreement that led to the premature resignation of former president Aslan Bzhania and severely strained relations between Russia and Abkhazia.

Sergey Kirienko has indicated that a new agreement will be drafted, one that will certainly take into account the interests of the Abkhaz side, and “this requires calm, thoughtful work.”