Bagapsh’s bright workdays in Moscow

Today Russia is celebrating the 80th anniversary of Fasil Iskander - the Russian writer of Abkhazian origin. President of Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh takes part in the celebration. On March 4 he too celebrated his 60th anniversary. However his visit to Russia is not at all festive.

Sergey Bagapsh arrived in Moscow on March 4 to discuss partnership issues between two countries. Meeting him in the Kremlin Russian president Dmitry Medvedev remarked that the diplomatic relations were developing in a normal way. As is known two states have already exchanged ambassadors. In Moscow the Abkhazian embassy was granted a mansion in Gagarin lane. The building with Masonic signs (a trowel, a hammer and a spud) on the front needs renovation for another year or more but this does not affect the duties of Igor Akhba, the Ambassador. In Sukhum the Russian ambassador Semen Grigoryev does not have a separate office either working in the ex HQ of the peacekeepers.

"But there are more serious substantive aspects that I believe we will discuss with you, - Medvedev emphasized. At first he congratulated Sergey Bagapsh on his birthday wishing him good health and a lot of energy. President of Abkhazia thanked Medvedev for the congratulations and passed over to current affairs.

As GeorgiaTimes already wrote the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is now elaborating bilateral agreements on assistance to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But if the high ranking officials n Tskhinval are not happy with the financial aid scheme there will be no discord with Sukhum, Sergey Bagapsh says. "We cooperate with Russia on a really conflict-free basis: money is Russian, the general contractor is Russian, payments are made from Russia, technical inspection is up to Russia too. So Abkhazia does not simply deal with these investments", - the president of the republic stated in his interview with "Nezavisimaya Gazeta".

Among joint projects subject to mandatory implementation in spite of the crisis Bagapsh mentioned deployment of the military base in Gudauta with existing infrastructure and a navy base in Ochamchyr that needs minor investments. According to him there is an agreement with Moscow stipulating that the Russian bases will be located in Abkhazia for 49 years with 3800 servicemen working there in total.

Other economic projects according to the Abkhazian leader are at the discussion stage.

For instance the republic is ready to submit terminals, a hotel complex and office facilities of Sukhum airport to businessmen and now "necessary negotiations are being held" with the representatives from Russia.

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