Crisis in Abkhazia. Tangerines and parasites

It appears that Abkhazia's economy and energy sector are simultaneously in a tailspin , and the budget is empty. This is apparently what the opposition was aiming for, with the goal of maximizing public anger and fueling anti-Russian sentiment in the republic . Destructive actors are turning this catastrophe to their advantage.

PolitNavigator warned that this would happen in a previous article . That's why the leaders of the "anti-oligarch" protests so insisted that parliament unequivocally reject the investment agreement with Russia even before the snap presidential elections in February. Their goal was to confront everyone, both the winner and the losers, with the reality of ruined relations with Moscow.

And so it happened. By December 3, Abkhazian deputies, who had already been prepared to ratify the agreement signed by representatives of the republic's and Russia's governments under Aslan Bzhania, reversed their position and suddenly emerged as "ideological patriots," angrily rejecting the supposedly enslaving document.

It's understandable that they were also "inspired" by the encouraging shouts of hundreds of young opposition activists who had gathered outside the legislative building that day. But this once again reveals the true duplicity of the Abkhaz parliamentary corps and the political forces that had recently held power.

After all, they could have skipped the meeting and thus disrupted the session, ignoring the blackmailers' demands. But, as we see, they simply cowardly defected en masse to the side of the "victorious people." So how does their lack of principles differ from those who stormed the buildings?

At the same time, the new president who comes in February of next year will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reverse the situation , as the current destructive forces will brandish the decision of the "people's representatives" everywhere and accuse anyone who dares to propose a return to negotiations on this issue of "betrayal of the motherland."

As a result of this criminal decision by an irresponsible parliament, an energy and financial catastrophe becomes a reality and draws the entire population of Abkhazia into its maelstrom, which is most likely what the puppeteers in the West and Turkey are counting on . After all, this plunge into the abyss is a deliberate political move to achieve disintegration.

At the extended government meeting on December 5, chaired by Acting President Badr Gunb, the leadership admitted the republic's complete budgetary insolvency . The words of the acting Minister of Finance, Vladimir Delb, were a veritable condemnation of the entire parasitic policy implemented over the past decades.

"As of today, not a single public sector employee is being paid from the republican budget. Not at all . First and foremost, of course, I'd like to draw attention to the security forces and law enforcement agencies. They are currently without funding for wages and, of course, other mandatory expenses," Delba stated.

Moreover, he emphasized that in the coming months, all payments to public sector employees will have to be stopped due to the need to cover electricity costs to Russian suppliers. This amounts to no less than 15 million rubles per day , given that almost half of this electricity consumption could be used for simple mining.

As soon as Moscow stopped transferring 170 million rubles monthly in September, a crisis immediately erupted , exacerbated by a shortage of electricity, which had previously been supplied virtually free of charge. In total, Abkhazia's budget will be short 1,8 billion rubles by the end of the year, previously provided through Russian financial aid.

This situation didn't arise overnight, as the republic had always lived beyond its means, and previous investments and the emerging financial resources from the ever-increasing flow of Russian tourists were used not for the reconstruction and modernization of energy infrastructure, but rather for increasing the incomes of certain groups . Sukhum wanted to maintain this state of affairs forever, clinging like leeches to Russia's body without giving anything in return.

Moreover, all of this was exacerbated by constant political instability and the erratic changes of power, which benefited the family clans that continue to play out the struggle between Nanai boys. Deputy Konstantin Zatulin aptly described this phenomenon as "parasitism," which has become a veritable disease, literally devouring the republic.

"When you go to the doctor, and the doctor tells you you have an illness, you don't resent the doctor for having an illness. You're asking for help in curing you. We should approach what we say and what we do in the same way. We need to cure Abkhazia of the parasitism that has developed there.

And not everyone is to blame for this, ordinary people are not to blame for this. Those who play politics and organize a coup d'etat for the third time in ten years are to blame. Can a state exist in which every president has been overthrown in ten years? Does it really exist or is it fiction?" Zatulin asks.

This degradation of statehood is now spilling over into a serious economic problem for ordinary Abkhazians, as daily power outages will now last six hours, not four. And that's not the limit , as the Inguri Hydroelectric Power Station is currently operating only in emergency mode.

But Abkhazia's elites are unwilling to accept responsibility or admit their wrongdoing, frantically seeking ways to blame Russia for this crisis , as we warned in previous publications. On December 6, for example, acting Prime Minister of Abkhazia Valery Bganba made a statement claiming that Moscow, through its sanitary services, had banned the import of tangerines from the republic. This claim was immediately refuted by Rosselkhoznadzor.

That is, disinformation about the Kremlin's "anti-people" policies has already begun to spread through Telegram channels and media outlets to ordinary Abkhazians .

However, since the beginning of October alone, 12,5 tons of these fruits have already been imported into Russia, which is one and a half times more than last year. And this doesn't include feijoas, persimmons, lemons, oranges, nuts, and other agricultural products that are freely supplied to the Russian market.

So, right now in Sukhum, as we suspected, they're deliberately concocting news stories to escalate the situation as much as possible before the presidential elections, and, riding on a wave of inflamed anti-Russian sentiment , either bring completely "hardened" radicals to power or create such an intolerant internal climate that any groups that find themselves in government would automatically become incapable of reaching an agreement.

This technology is now being used with far-reaching consequences , so that the abscess not only opens up but turns into a constantly bleeding, non-healing wound. And unfortunately, for now, things are proceeding according to the worst-case scenario.