Abkhazia - Articoli

War in Ukraine: reactions from the South Caucasus

24/02/2022 -  Marilisa Lorusso

If the secessionists of Abkhazia and South Ossetia celebrate the Russian recognition of Donetsk and Lugansk, Georgia reaffirms the integrity of Ukraine, while Armenia finds itself in a difficult situation as an ally of Moscow but with good relations with Kiev. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, coordinates with Turkey


The Italian maritime republics and slave trade from the Caucasus

08/10/2021 -  Giorgio Comai

Italian maritime republics such as Venice and Genoa were very active in the Black Sea between the 13th and 15th century. Their presence in Abkhazia and their involvement in the slave trade from the Western Caucasus are the main subjects of a recently published book


“Abchazja” and other untranslated bits of Wojciech Górecki's Caucasus trilogy

26/06/2020 -  Giorgio Comai

Górecki spent a lavish amount of time in the Caucasus, meeting people across the region and hearing their stories. His Caucasus trilogy makes for excellent reading. Yet, not all of it is accessible to the international readership it deserves


The Eu and de facto states: adjust expectations, support small steps

13/02/2019 -  Giorgio Comai

Meaningful engagement with de facto states and consistent, patient support for constructive approaches as they emerge from the region are the way to go for the EU and other international actors in the coming months


The Soviets’ Right to Rest That is no Longer

14/04/2017 -  Monica EllenaMariam Nikuradze

A means of mass mobilization in Soviet times, the right to rest does no longer exist. Resorts and sanatoria built in that time offer today decaying architecture and outdated practices luring to Soviet nostalgia


Fort Sochi

20/12/2013 -  Andrea Rossini

The Sochi Project, a digital tale showcased at the recent Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, is a powerful investigation into the next Winter Olympics, and on the human rights violations associated


Moscow's approach towards de facto states after Kosovo's recognition

08/08/2013 -  Giorgio Comai

Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2008 marked a change in Russia's approach towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the months preceding the war in Georgia in August 2008. Five years later, a short journey through this change in Moscow's official rhetoric


Life in Gali

29/04/2013 -  Francisco Martinez

In his contribution for the dossier “Abkhazia, twenty years after the war”, Francisco Martínez shares with Osservatorio's readers the materials he gathered in late 2010 while visiting the region, including video interviews in Gali, Sukhumi and Tbilisi


ICG's report on Abkhazia, some notes on the footnotes

18/04/2013 -  Giorgio Comai

ICG's latest report on Abkhazia is timely and its recommendations show the way forward. As usual, it provides a wealth of information and details. Yet, it is not without imprecisions


In Abkhazia, worried about the language law

06/11/2012 -  Giorgio Comai

The law "On the state language", approved by the authorities in Sukhumi in 2007, risks exacerbating inter-ethnic relations in Abkhazia, a territory that remains largely multi-ethnic, even after the ethnic cleansing that happened during the war. Our correspondent went to Abkhazia to find out more about it. A feature story


Aleksey Gogua, a writer in Sukhumi

03/04/2012 -  Giorgio Comai Sukhumi

Aleksey Gogua is one of the most notable Abkhaz-language writers of the twenty-first century. During the Soviet era, his novels were translated into Russian and hundreds of thousands of copies were printed. Literature in Abkhazia today, relations with Russia, the situation of the Abkhaz language. An interview


Abkhazia's Armenians, multilingualism is the future

30/11/2011 -  Giorgio Comai Sukhumi

At home they speak Hamshen, a variety of western Armenian. At school, they study eastern Armenian, as spoken in Yerevan. According to Sukhumi authorities, they will need to speak Abkhaz within a few years. Most of them, though, prefer to just speak Russian. An interview with Suren Kerselian, former president of the Armenian community in Abkhazia


Russia-Abkhazia: where to set the border

03/10/2011 -  Francisco Martinez

A border dispute over a small village near the ski resorts where the winter Olympics of Sochi 2014 are set to take place has caused some skirmishes between Moscow and the de facto authorities of Sukhumi


A new President for Abkhazia

29/08/2011 -  Marilisa Lorusso

Acting President Aleksandr Ankvab won the 26th of August elections in the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia. The reactions in Moscow, the statement of the new President on the future relations with Georgia


Mashuk 2010, a youth camp in the Caucasus

09/12/2010 -  Giorgio Comai Pjatigorsk

Last August, the youth forum “Mashuk 2010”, the first summer camp promoted by Moscow's government and solely devoted to young people from the Russian Caucasus, was held in Pyatigorsk, an old spa town in Russia’s North Caucasian Federal District. The event focused on training for cultural interaction and support to youth entrepreneurship


Abkhazia: Europe is close, on the other side of the Black Sea

09/06/2010 -  Giorgio Comai

Stanislav Lakoba is a well-known Abkhaz historian and politician. Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso met him in Sukhumi where he talked about Abkhazia's sense of belonging to Europe, the current situation in this self-proclaimed state, and its relations with Brussels


Alasania: 'Democratic change is possible in Georgia'

14/05/2010 -  Francisco Martinez

Irakli Alasania, 35, one of the emergent leaders of the opposition in Georgia, is currently running for mayor of Tblisi. If Alasania is elected mayor in local elections in the capital city (May 30), he could become one of Saakashvili's most credible opponents in the presidential elections scheduled for 2013. OBC interviewed him


Borders aren't forever

01/04/2010 -  Francisco Martinez Sukhumi

Perspectives on the development of Abkhazia, a territory whose self-proclaimed independence has not been widely recognised at the international level, the country's strained dialogue with Tbilisi, and its relations with Russia and the EU. An interview with Maxim Gvinjia, de facto foreign minister of Abkhazia


Territorial Integrity and Democracy in Georgia

12/08/2009 -  Giorgio Comai Tbilisi

Twelve months after the conflict in South Ossetia, tension in the border area is running high again. In reality, Tbilisi does not expect renewal of the hostilities, but there is concern about domestic politics. An article by our correspondent


Caucasian Knot

14/05/2009 -  Giorgio Comai Moscow

Osservatorio met Grigory Shvedov, the editor-in-chief of 'Caucasian Knot,' the largest news outlet dealing with the region, to talk about freedom of the media, the role of international organisations in the Caucasus and his web portal


Post-Soviet Geography

17/11/2008 -  Massimiliano Di Pasquale

Crimea and Transnistria after the August war between Georgia and Russia. Political and ethnic conflict in the post-Soviet space; a conversation with Andrea Graziosi, professor of contemporary history at the University of Naples Federico II