Is Abkhazia ready to fight as Russia's ally? JAMnews

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18 hours ago

Is Abkhazia ready to fight as Russia's ally?
'War is not far off, and Abkhazia must start preparing for it,' says Abkhaz veteran Aslan Kobakhia.
He points to Ukrainian drone strikes near the Psou–Adler crossing close to the Abkhazia–Russia border as a warning sign.
In the past ten days, Ukrainian drones have struck near Abkhazia twice, leaving residents deeply concerned. Local politicians are increasingly calling for the region to prepare for the worst.
Hero of Abkhazia Aslan Kobakhia, a veteran of the Abkhaz–Georgian war and former artillery commander, issued an emotional warning during a recent roundtable on national security.
'We talk about strategic partnership with Russia. Russia has been at war for four years. Have we once stopped to think about what we're doing? Singing songs, dancing, holding anniversaries, cutting ribbons.
What if Gudauta is hit tomorrow?' he asked, referring to the Abkhaz town that hosts Russian military installations.
Kobakhia believes the main threat doesn't come from Ukraine, but from Georgia, which is currently conducting large-scale military exercises involving U.S. forces.
He also pointed out that similar joint exercises between Azerbaijan and Turkey were held shortly before the outbreak of the Second Karabakh War.
In response to the Georgian military drills, Kobakhia proposed that Abkhazia conduct its own exercises:
'We have a training ground up in the mountains, everything we need. But unless we revise the budget, everything we're saying is just empty talk.
We should have shifted to a wartime footing four years ago. We haven't taken even half a step in that direction.
The war is already on our doorstep. It will affect us whether we like it or not. We have no other allies — only Russia. But Russia won't fight for us. No one's going to hand us aircraft, air defences, or armoured vehicles. Why would anyone give anything to freeloaders?'
According to Kobakhia, Abkhazia hasn't held proper military exercises in over a decade. He claims the Ministry of Defence has become a 'club of retired war buddies', and that since the death of the republic's first president, Vladislav Ardzinba, the authorities have done little to build a real army — merely 'pretending it exists.'
Now, he argues, it's time to get serious — especially as a new generation of officers trained at Russian military academies is available.
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