Free Republic

8. While negotiations between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides remained stalemated, a combination of developments brought about a dangerous dynamic in the situation around Abkhazia, Georgia. One month after the decision of the Russian Federation to withdraw from the 1996 Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) restrictions on Abkhazia, Georgia (see S/2008/219, para. 14), on 16 April the President of the Russian Federation issued an instruction authorizing direct relations with the Abkhaz and South Ossetian de facto authorities in a number of fields. The Russian Federation stated that the decision was aimed at supporting Russian citizens and the local population and...

One of the members of the crew of a ship in the Black Sea Fleet, upon his return to Sevastopol is interviewed by a reporter regarding the battle with Georgian cutters off of Abkhazia on 10 August. This is currently leading the news in the Ukraine. The story suggests he is being interviewed by a kpunews reporter. "We took up station guarding the opposed landing on the Abkhaz shore when all of a sudden four high speed targets were detected. We sent out an IFF signal and the targets didn't react. Receiving a command from the flagship, we got into...