18:03, 4 March 2020

Valery Bganba delivers ultimatum to Russian Ambassador in Abkhazia

Valery Bganba. Photo: Jamal1309 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бганба,_Валерий_Рамшухович

The acting President of Abkhazia has demanded from the Russian Ambassador to submit the information on the basis of which the Russian media reported about poisoning of Aslan Bzhaniya. If no information is submitted, and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation does not institute a case on poisoning, that will be regarded as an unfriendly act, the authorities of Abkhazia announce.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 3, about 400 people held an action outside the building of the Cabinet of Ministers, demanding resignation of the government and the acting president of Abkhazia. They insisted to postpone the presidential election scheduled for March 22.

The protests began after Aslan Bzhaniya, a presidential candidate, was urgently hospitalized on March 2 in the Krasnodar Territory. The members of the new initiative group believe that he was poisoned. A consulium of Krasnodar doctors has established that his bilateral pneumonia had caused Mr Bzhaniya's hospitalization, Abkhazian journalists have reported.

In Sukhumi, Valery Bganba, the acting President of Abkhazia, met Alexei Dvinyanin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Abkhazia, and criticized a number of Russian media outlets for disseminating information about the poisoning of Aslan Bzhaniya. "We regard that fact as an undisguised attempt to destabilize the socio-political situation in the Republic of Abkhazia, which could lead to civil confrontation," the press service of the President of Abkhazia quoted Valery Bganba as saying.

The Abkhazian authorities have demanded from the Russian Ambassador "to immediately submit to the investigating group of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Abkhazia all facts available in the media in question and medical reports for conducting a preliminary investigation."

"Failure to comply with our requirements will be regarded as an unfriendly act against the Republic of Abkhazia," said Valery Bganba as quoted by the press service of the President of Abkhazia.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 4, 2020 at 12:53 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.