Abkhazian railways will be managed by Russian railways

After Russian Prime Minister Putin’s visit to breakaway Abkhazia it has become clear that Russian railways will be taking over the management of Abkhazian railways. The Minister of Economy of so-called independent Abkhazia states that different agreements are being concluded with Russia on the rehabilitation of Abkhazia’s transport infrastructure, including all road, railway, sea and air transport. Therefor Abkhazia will be integrated in the Russian Federation’s transport infrastructure.

It is suggested that rehabilitating the Abkhazian transport infrastructure will cost 10 million roubles, whereas Abkhazia’s total budget is 2 billion roubles. Therefore it is clear that the majority of the necessary funds will be invested by Russian companies.

Giving Abkhazian railways over to Russian management was the idea of Abkhazia’s puppet President Sergey Bagapsh. Vice President of Russian Railways Vladimir Vorobov has stated that for the rehabilitation of the Sokhumi-Ochamchire railway approximately 2 billion roubles will be needed, but he promised that as soon as official documents are signed in three months time the railways will start functioning.

Minister of Economy of the de facto Abkhazian regime Kristina Ozgan has said that since Abkhazia has sea ports it should also transit goods. The Abkhaz segment of Georgian Railways, 221 kilometres long, stopped functioning in 1992.