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It was a moment of humiliation for Moscow. The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet – a building of elegant white columns overlooking the Crimean port of Sevastopol – was ablaze. Smoke billowed into a blue sky. First one, and then a second Storm Shadow missile slammed into its roof. Video captured the impact: a precise, deadly, thunderous strike. The attack on 22 September killed 34 officers, including Viktor Sokolov, the fleet’s commander, according to Ukraine. Russia denied this, releasing footage of Sokolov, suggesting he was still alive. Whatever the truth of the admiral’s fate, the blow deep into enemy...

Vladimir Putin has approved a 31-page "humanitarian policy" which says Russia should "protect, safeguard and advance the traditions and ideals of the Russian World". The foreign policy concept of a "Russian World" is a notion that hardliners have used to justify intervening abroad to support Russian speakers, such as in parts of Ukraine. It means that the idea is now enshrined in official policy, though it was presented as a soft power strategy. The new policy stated that Moscow should further deepen its ties with the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic - two breakaway entities in...

A rare phenomenon formed in Abkhazia, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, on September 23, 2020. According to local and tourist eyewitnesses, the water started twisting into a gigantic spiral. The whirlpool most probably formed by the collision of water masses having different characteristics (salinity, temperature, etc.).

In a stunning sequence of events, the Russian military opened fire then seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in an unprovoked attack on the Black Sea last Sunday. In the melee, several Ukrainian sailors were wounded and 24 captured. Moscow followed up this flagrant act of war by parading the sailors on Russian television to give clearly coerced confessions of guilt. This attack is but the latest escalation in the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine that has been churning since 2014. It’s also the first great test for the Trump administration regarding Russia and one that will have lasting consequences on...

T he separatist leader of South Ossetia has proposed holding a referendum on whether the Georgian breakaway region should join Russia. Leonid Tibilov said reuniting with Russia "is a century-long dream of the South Ossetian people," in comments quoted by the Interfax news agency on October 19 after talks with Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov. Tibilov said he was sure the public and political leaders would support the idea. Tibilov and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an "alliance and integration treaty" in Moscow on March 18. That pact was denounced by both the European Union and the United States. Moscow...

Military sources told debkafile Thursday, Aug. 12, that a threat from Georgia was not the reason why Russian posted advanced S-300 interceptor batteries Russia in Abkhazia and air defense weapons in South Ossetia on the northern shore of the Black Sea -as Moscow officially maintained, but rather possible moves by the US and/or Israel against Iran and its nuclear facilities. Georgia's armed forces do not run to the sophisticated warplanes, missiles or drones that would warrant establishing the high-powered S-300 interceptors for defending the breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Ordinary air defense batteries would do for deterrence. Therefore, US military...

Hopefully, Russians realize that our House of Representatives often passes thunderous resolutions to pander to special interests, which have no bearing on the thinking or actions of the U.S. government. Last week, the House passed such a resolution 411-10. As ex-Rep. Ron Paul writes, House Resolution 758 is so "full of war propaganda that it rivals the rhetoric from the chilliest era of the Cold War." H. R. 758 is a Russophobic rant full of falsehoods and steeped in superpower hypocrisy. Among the 43 particulars in the House indictment is this gem: "The Russian Federation invaded the Republic of Georgia...

In Kosovo and Honduras, Obama-ite foreign policy gave Putin effective precedent.‘Your independence is irreversible, absolutely irreversible.” So declared Vice President Joe Biden, thrilling a parliamentary assembly in Pristina, Kosovo. These were still the early months of the Obama administration, and the vice president was touring the Balkans to take a victory lap in the breakaway Serbian territory whose independence he’d done so much to champion as an influential senator. As Vladimir Putin tucks away Crimea, just as he clawed South Ossetia and Abkhazia back from Georgia five years ago, Kosovo is worth remembering. So is President Obama’s staunch support of...

CYPRUS is the only European Union member-state which did not vote in favour of a UN resolution that recognised the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants to their homes throughout Georgia, it emerged yesterday. Cyprus was among 78 countries which abstained from voting – 48, including all EU countries voted in favour, 19 voted against. The resolution was passed on Wednesday. “Following extensive debate … the General Assembly today adopted a resolution that recognised the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants to their homes throughout Georgia...

Sergei Bagapsh, president of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, has died aged 62, Abkhaz officials say. They say he passed away in a Moscow hospital from complications following recent lung surgery. Mr Bagapsh won his second five-year term in 2009. Georgia denounced the elections as "illegitimate". Since its brief war with Georgia in 2008 over another disputed territory, South Ossetia, Russia has provided security for Abkhazia. Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in 1992, but is only recognised by Moscow and a handful of other countries. Abkhaz officials say Vice-President Alexander Ankvab will be acting leader. Russia sent forces into...

Russia launched large-scale military exercises involving thousands of troops across parts of its southern regions on Monday which Georgia said would violate its territory. The Defence Ministry said the sweep of the week-long "Caucasus 2009" manoeuvres would include the volatile, mainly-Muslim regions of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia - continuing focus of rebel groups seeking to prize the area from Moscow's control. Moscow sees the Caucasus mountains area as a strategically vital zone, the approach to prime agricultural and industrial regions and an important energy transit route. The Kremlin views any challenge here as a threat to the overall security and...

Russia secured on 17 February the right to maintain a large, long-term military presence in the Georgian rebel region of Abkhazia, signing a deal for a military base that was condemned by Tbilisi and the West. The base will accommodate at least 3,000 Russian land troops, already stationed in Abkhazia, for at least 49 years, Abkhaz officials said. "This agreement creates a foundation for the development of Abkhazia as an independent state," Medvedev said at a signing ceremony in the Great Kremlin Palace. Moscow recognised Abkhazia in August 2008 after crushing an assault by US ally Georgia on another pro-Russian...

NATO on Wednesday denounced as "invalid" a Russian pact establishing a military base in the rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia, urging Moscow to revoke it. "NATO considers invalid agreements between Russia and the (Georgian) territories," which its 28 member nations do not recognise, alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said. The Russian-Abkhaz deal, signed in Moscow Wednesday during an elaborate "state visit" by rebel leader Sergei Bagapsh, builds on previous agreements allowing Russia to maintain thousands of troops and border guards in Abkhazia. The base pact allows Russian forces "to defend the sovereignty and safety of the republic jointly with the armed...

By ELLEN BARRY Published: December 13, 2009 MOSCOW — Voters in Abkhazia, the separatist enclave in Georgia, have re-elected President Sergei V. Bagapsh by a decisive margin, amid protests from the Georgian government that the vote was invalid. In final results of the Saturday vote announced on Sunday, Mr. Bagapsh won 59.4 percent of the vote, more than he needed to avoid a second round of voting. His closest rival among four other candidates, Raul Khajimba, a former agent in the Russian F.S.B. security service, trailed with 15.4 percent. Turnout was 73 percent, election officials said. Mr. Khajimba alleged widespread...

TBILISI -- The chairman of Georgia's opposition Labor Party is in Washington to discuss Georgian-U.S.-Russian relations and the recognition of Kosovo and Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. Labor Party Secretary-General Joseph Shatberashvili told RFE/RL that the main goal of Shalva Natelashvili's visit to Washington is "to start a dialogue with Moscow and Washington” on Moscow’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Washington’s recognition of Kosovo. Shatberashvili says that Labor Party leaders believe that if Washington would revoke its recognition of Kosovo's independence it would cause Russia to reconsider its decision...

Tensions Rise Over Georgia's Sea Blockade Of Abkhazia September 02, 2009 (RFE/RL) -- The leader of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia has threatened to destroy any Georgian ship entering Abkhazia's "territorial waters." "I issued an order to our navy to destroy Georgian ships violating Abkhazia's sea border," Sergei Bagapsh told Interfax. "This step has been motivated by unending acts of piracy by Georgia." It is the strongest threat to date from Bagapsh in an escalating war of words over Tbilisi's efforts to impose a sea blockade on the territory. The blockade was imposed after the Russia-Georgia war one year ago....

Russia defied international criticism on Sunday by deploying troops along Georgia's internal border with the two breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Hundreds of troops mounted their first patrols along the contested frontier three days after Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, announced that Moscow was assuming formal control over the boundaries of the two rebel provinces. The President's declaration prompted accusations from Georgia that Russia was attempting the stealth annexation of the two regions, which were at the heart of last year's war in the Caucasus. Both the European Union and the United States strongly condemned Russia's actions, saying...

Nato and Russia traded accusations yesterday after the alliance accused Moscow of breaking the peace agreement that ended the war with Georgia, a day after it expelled two Russian diplomats in a spying row. At a ceremony in the Kremlin yesterday Russia assumed formal control of the borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in agreements signed by President Medvedev with the leaders of Georgia’s two breakaway regions. The signing elicited a sharp response from Nato, which said that the treaties were in “clear contravention” of the ceasefire brokered by President Sarkozy of France to end the war between Russia and...

MOSCOW, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia signed on Thursday joint border protection agreements with the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The agreements were signed in the Kremlin by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh, and South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity. Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states after the five-day war with Georgia, which attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Most residents of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia had held Russian citizenship for several years. Under the agreements, Russia will guard the Abkhaz and South...

Talks this week in Geneva between Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia reached a minor milestone with an agreement on "incident prevention" mechanisms intended to give international monitors access to the entire zone of conflict following last year's Russia-Georgia war. But EU sources say it remains unclear whether Moscow and the Russian-backed authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia have a genuine desire to see the deal work. The scheme commits both sides to cooperate on preventing security incidents in and around the breakaway regions of South Ossetia -- where Moscow and Tbilisi fought a war in August -- and Abkhazia....