Bashar al-Assad Hosts De Facto Abkhazia Leader
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, September 6
After hosting the so-called president of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia in July 2018, the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad this time invited the de facto leader of Russian-occupied Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba in Damascus.
As Abkhazian media reports, “the sides discussed the prospects for bilateral cooperation, as well as the development of Abkhaz-Syrian relations.”
According to Apsnypress, Khajimba and Assad also signed the “Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between the Republic of Abkhazia and the Syrian Arab Republic, an Intergovernmental Agreement on the establishment of a joint Syrian-Abkhaz committee on economic, trade, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation, as well as an intergovernmental agreement in the field of promoting trade and economic cooperation.”
The two “presidents” also awarded each other with special orders and exchanged views on advancing cooperation.
Bashar-al Assad congratulated Khajimba on the “10th anniversary of independence” from Georgia.
Apsnypress reports that the so-called delegation of Russian-occupied Abkhazia, headed by Khajimba, includes “Prime Minister Gennady Gagulia, Head of the Presidential Administration Beslan Bartsits, Secretary of the Security Council Muhamed Kilba, Foreign Minister Daur Kove, Defense Minister Mirab Kishmariya and the Minister of Economy Adgur Ardzinba.”
Russia occupied Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia in August 2008. Syria recognized these regions as independent countries on May 29, 2018. The international community denounced the step of Damascus.
Only Syria, Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Nauru recognize these two separatist regions as independent countries.
