MOSCOW, May 30 (RIA Novosti) – Most citizens of the former Georgian region believe that the Abkhaz republic should preserve its independence, Abkhaz President Alexander Ankvab said Friday.
“An overwhelming majority of citizens of our country think that Abkhazia should remain a sovereign democratic state,” Ankvab told the Kommersant FM radio, citing opinion polls conducted this year and last year.
“We have the Constitution, it outlines the legal status of this country and there may be various opinions, we have never ruled them out,” he said adding that only few people want Abkhazia to join Russia.
A mass protest in Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhum, has been continuing for several days. The situation in Sukhum escalated on Tuesday as the Abkhaz opposition staged a mass rally near the government offices, demanding the resignation of President Ankvab and the government. Later in the day, crowds of protesters seized administrative buildings in the city. Ankvab called the events "an armed coup attempt."
Abkhazia broke away from Georgia following an ethnically tinged war in 1992-1993, just after the collapse of the Soviet Union. More than a decade later, in 2008, Russia formally recognized the province as an independent state after a brief war with Tbilisi over another disputed Georgian region, South Ossetia. Many Abkhaz citizens have Russian passports.
