MOSCOW, June 03, /ITAR-TASS/. Acting President of the Republic of Abkhazia, Valery Bgangba, believes that his main task now is to hold a successful early presidential election, in which former President Alexander Ankvab will be able to take part, among others.
An interview with him published Tuesday by the Moscow-based Kommersant Daily contains his assurances there will be no repressions against Ankvab.
“He is not an enemy of the people, as he has really done much (since Abkhazia’s independence in 2008 - Itar-Tass),” Bgangba says. “Akvab, who is a citizen of Abkhazia, also has the right to run for presidency.”
He says once again that the situation in the country is quiet and “there are no grounds for concern.”
“I’d like to give my assurances there will be no surge of tensions before or after the election,” Bgangba says.”My current task is to do everything in my power for holding a successful election and handing state power to a legitimately elected president.”
“Abkhazia has a centuries-old experience of resolving all the conflicts and disputes at an all-nation assembly,” he says. “People would make rows and take offenses but they would always get at a solution benefiting the entire nation.”
Bgangba also stresses the role that Russian representatives have played in the latest events in the country. “Russian representatives have done their best to help the parties to the political conflict to start speaking to one another,” he says.
He comments on the Russian-Abkhazian Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation, which the two countries signed in 2008.
“Various interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements are signed pursuant to it,” Bgangba says. “The task now is to step up activity under their provisions.”
“At present, Abkhazia’s membership of the Eurasian Union and the Customs Union is being pondered,” he says.
April 29, Abkhazian political opposition demanded that President Ankvab dismiss the cabinet led by Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaia and set up a national trust government. It also demanded the resignation of the country’s Prosecutor General and the heads of administration of two districts, saying that they had handed out Abkhazian passports en masse to the citizens of neighboring Georgia who had not dropped Georgian citizenship.
Abkhazian legislation permits dual citizenship with the Russian Federation only.