Abkhazia, South Ossetia: Two De Facto States in South Caucasus

Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

In 2008, then president Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia decided to conquer two areas, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, that had been autonomous parts of Georgia when that country was itself one of the 15 constituent republics in the Soviet Union.

In the complex ethnically-based federal structure of the Soviet Union, Abkhazia had been an autonomous republic while South Ossetia was an autonomous region, both within Georgia.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia had successfully seceded from Georgia after 1991, when the Soviet Union was dissolved and ethnic tensions grew over Georgia’s moves towards independence. In both, there was a mass exodus of ethnic Georgians. (Prior to this, ethnic Abkhaz were in fact a minority within their republic.)

Saakashvili, who rose to power in Georgia after the Rose Revolution that ousted the country’s former leader, ex-Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, in 2003, was determined to get the two entities back.

 He began building up his military with American arms, and even hoped Georgia might join NATO and the European Union. He had been encouraged in this ambition by people like Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, a “hawk” when it came to relations with Russia.

British academic Richard Sakwa argues in his new book Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands, that most western leaders saw Russia as a defeated nation whose interests could be brushed aside, and which must accept U.S. hegemony.

So in early August 2008, Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia. But instead of recapturing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Georgians soon found themselves at war with Russia.

Saakashvili had miscalculated and had underestimated Russia’s resolve in defending the two breakaway areas. Moscow pushed the Georgians back in less than a week, and soon afterwards formally recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign states.

The Bush administration had acceded to the independence of Kosovo, the former Serbian province, in February 2008. Moscow would cite the Kosovo precedent in pushing the claims of separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In September 2009 an EU fact-finding mission determined that the 2008 conflict was caused by Georgia’s attack on the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7-8.

Today the Republic of Abkhazia, with a population of 243,000, controls 8,660 square kilometres, and remains beholden to Russia for its independence.

Raul Khadzhimba, who was elected president last August, said that Abkhazia and Russia “live and develop in common civilization space.” The economy of Abkhazia is heavily integrated with Russia and uses the Russian rouble as its currency.

On Nov. 24, 2014, an agreement was signed between Putin and Khadzhimba to create joint Russian and Abkhazian military forces. This, declared the Abkhaz president, will create more firm guarantees for the sovereignty of Abkhazia, and will provide more opportunities for attracting investments. The accord also made it easier for residents of Abkhazia to obtain Russian citizenship.

The Georgian government denounced it as a step towards annexation. “The signature of the so-called treaty constitutes a deliberate move by Russia in reaction to Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” the Georgian foreign minister, Tamar Beruchashvili, said in a statement.

The Republic of South Ossetia, whose 51,000 people live within an area of 3,900 square kilometres, is also protected by Russian troops. With most Georgians gone, 90 per cent of the population is Ossetian, up from two-thirds when it was part of Georgia.

It is a poor country, and former President Eduard Kokoity admitted that it is seriously dependent on Russian economic assistance. It too uses the Russian rouble.

The current incumbent, Leonid Tibilov, in power since April 2012, is widely considered loyal to Moscow after a career with the Soviet security service.

In the past quarter-century, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia dissolved. Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia, East Timor from Indonesia, Kosovo from Serbia, and South Sudan from Sudan. What so special about Georgia’s territorial integrity, if it’s clear some people prefer to acquire their own states?

As for Saakashvili, who left office in 2013, he has now become chairman of the International Advisory Council on Reforms for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko -- despite being wanted by the new Georgian government on multiple criminal charges of corruption during his time in power.