Abkhazia asked Moscow to resume social payments. What was Russian money spent on?: Transcaucasia: Former USSR: Lenta.ru

Acting Prime Minister of Abkhazia Valery Bganba asked Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin to resume social payments in the republic.

The politician clarified that, among other things, we are talking about co-financing wages. Now Moscow pays residents of the republic only pensions; other social transfers have been stopped since November.

In November, the Abkhazian parliament voted against ratifying an agreement on investment by Russian legal entities in the local economy. After this, Russia stopped financial support for the republic due to its failure to fulfill its obligations.

Expert on foreign policy of the countries of the South Caucasus Niyazi Niyazov noticedthat without Russian economic assistance Abkhazia as an independent state will hardly be able to exist. He emphasized that Sukhum must make a difficult decision about the need to deepen interaction with Moscow in the political and economic spheres.

Russia explains the freeze on payments

Russia has reduced material support for Abkhazia due to “parasitism” believes First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Konstantin Zatulin. In a conversation with Lenta.ru, he spoke about the allocation of assistance to the republic. According to the deputy, Russia has helped Abkhazia for many years during difficult periods and sent billions of rubles to the country to support citizens. However, he believes that some political circles used the funds allocated by Moscow in bad faith.

These are our voluntary obligations, some of them are repayable, but it is difficult to imagine that they will ever be returned, some are simply subsidies from the Russian budget. Since September, the payment of subsidies to state employees of Abkhazia has been suspended, that is, the Russian Federation, one might say, gave 170 million rubles monthly to Abkhazia

Konstantin ZatulinState Duma deputy

At the same time, the former President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania notedthat only Moscow’s help allows Abkhazia to strengthen its statehood. “This corresponds to the interests, first of all, of Abkhazia. The Russian factor in Abkhazia is a factor of stability and security, and not the other way around, as some politicians want to present it,” said the ex-leader of the republic. He added that strengthening Abkhaz statehood is possible only with support from Russia.

Abkhazia faces an energy crisis

Schools and kindergartens will be closed in Abkhazia. The authorities made this decision against the backdrop of worsening energy shortages. “The situation with energy supply in Abkhazia has worsened, and we were forced to make a number of decisions today,” stated Bganba. The restriction will come into effect on Tuesday, December 10th. The period for which educational institutions will stop working is not specified.

Also the authorities of the republic decided to fight the energy-consuming mining of cryptocurrencies by suspending the supply of electricity and turning off the Internet, said acting. Prime Minister. If suspending the supply of the resource is not enough, the politician considers it necessary to involve parliament in the matter, which will allow the seizure of equipment in homes.

The energy shortage in Abkhazia arose against the background of a decrease in the water level at the Ingur hydroelectric power station dam, which supplies the republic. To prevent a crisis, the republic began purchasing electricity from Russia on November 1, but the volume of this energy is not enough to fully cover the needs.