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Union Parliamentary Assembly of Belarus and Russia Delegation visits occupied Abkhazia

By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, November 4, 2022
After the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, the delegation of the Union Parliamentary Assembly of Belarus and Russia arrived in occupied Abkhazia. According to local Abkhazian media, the delegation was hosted by the de facto president, Aslan Bzhania, and the chairman of the de facto parliament, Lasha Ashuba.

Aslan Bzhania said that it is important to deepen their relations at all levels, be it executive, municipal or legislative. According to him, similar meetings will promote friendship between Abkhazian, Russian and Belarusian people.

Artyom Turov, the head of the commission on youth policy, sports and tourism in the Parliamentary Assembly, as well as the deputy chairman of the committee on relations with the CIS countries in the Russian Duma, said that they discussed issues that correspond to the interests of Russia, Belarus and Abkhazia.

"It is necessary to actively deepen ties in the humanitarian, economic and political spheres, and I am sure that we will be able to respond to the challenges facing the societies of our countries. Our peoples have been close to each other for hundreds of years. We have common values, culture, and faith", said Turov.

Aslan Bzhania also talked about how important it is to deepen the economic relations between occupied Abkhazia and Belarus and expressed hope that more steps will be taken in this regard.

The ruling party Georgian Dream responded to the visit of the Russian-Belarusian delegation to occupied Abkhazia. The chairman of "Georgian Dream", Irakli Kobakhidze, assessed the visit as "worrying'', and said that "pragmatic steps must be taken."

"We have a very clear goal and task, which is to maintain a successful non-recognition policy. Therefore, any response will be carried out precisely in the context of this goal. The visit is worrying, but we need to take pragmatic steps to continue the successful policy of non-recognition," said Irakli Kobakhidze.