Abkhazia piece in the Washington Diplomat

I also forgot to put up my Abkhazia piece that ran in the September issue of the Washington Diplomat. For those of you familiar with my earlier reporting from Abkhazia, nothing in it should surprise you, but it is a longer and more in depth summation of the situation here since last August.

TBILISI, Georgia — Just over a year after Russia recognized the independence of the Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia following a brief war with Georgia, the region is still shaking from the consequences.

The mid-August visit of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Abkhazia promising to boost the Russian military presence there further rattled nerves, both in Georgia and in the United States.

In Abkhazia, however, one word is on the lips of everyone from government officials to taxi drivers: progress.

“The most important change [since August 2008] is the stability of Abkhazia. People finally know that they can live under a peaceful and independent government, and build their future — through economic development, political development, rebuilding all that was destroyed by the war,” said de facto Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh.

Following the 1992-1993 conflict between Georgia and Abkhaz separatists, which drove Georgian forces out of the province, Abkhazia had been economically and diplomatically isolated.

However, that quickly changed last August after a five-day war between Russian and Georgian forces in South Ossetia that left hundreds dead and Moscow firmly entrenched in the two enclaves. Both Moscow and Tbilisi point their fingers at the other for instigating the fighting, and an international fact-finding mission is set to release its report on the conflict at the end of the month.

To read the full article, click here.