Disputing about the Abkhaz sky

Georgia is going to complain of Russia to the International Civil Aviation Organization. Tbilisi is indignant at the recent signing of the air traffic agreement between Moscow and Sukhum. As is known, the Georgian party believes Abkhazia to be its territory, while the recognized republic is developing political and economical cooperation with Russia. Whose side will the ICAO officials finally take?

The tragic August 2008 events and Russia's recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that followed led to the appearance of another two states on the map of the South Caucasus. So far, the list of the countries that have confirmed the right of Sukhum and Tskhinval for sovereignty is not extensive: Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru. The rest of the countries keep basing upon the principle of Georgia's territorial integrity. As to Tbilisi, since the August aggression, the Georgian capital has taken up the line of rapid bringing the "lost territories" back.

In this aspect, any cooperation between Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia causes a storm of irritation in Georgia. The recently signed air traffic agreement between Moscow and Sukhum became another turn of this story. The document was signed by Minister of Transport of Russia Igor Levitin and Head of the Civil Aviation Department of Abkhazia Anatoliy Panteleev. The parties agreed to create in their territory all the necessary conditions for the performance of the aircraft flights of other states and their navigational, technical and airport service.

At the same time, Levitin and Panteleev agreed on cooperation in the field of scientific and technical policy concerning the air transportation sphere, cooperation in providing air security and support of the aircraft airworthiness and their air navigation service, as well as in the field of airmen training and the development of the common requirements to their professional training level, as Kavkazskiy Uzel reports.

The transport field is one of the priority directions of the Russian-Abkhaz cooperation. Before the signing of the agreement, Russian Ambassador to Abkhazia Semen Grigoriev underlined that the speedy development of the railway infrastructure, the expansion and improvement of the port facilities, as well as the resumption of the operation of Sukhum airport will enable to optimize the freight and passenger traffic by re-orienting them from the mostly automotive transport to the railway, sea and air transport.

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