Georgia Protests Against Russian, Abkhaz Ferry Traffic

(Tbilisi, July 30, 2003, Civil Georgia) – The Georgian Foreign Ministry delivered a protest note to the Russian Embassy in Georgia on July 29, urging Moscow to suppress illegal sea communication between Sochi and Sukhumi.

Commander of the Georgian Border Guard Department Valeri Chkheidze said on July 29 that the Georgian coast guard service controls the entire sea border and “will seize the ships bound for Abkhazia.”

The first tourist boat in the last ten years set off from Sukhumi, the capital of Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia, to a Russian city of!
Sochi on July 26.

De facto Abkhaz Prime Minister Raul Khajimba said earlier sea communication was resumed by the commercial firms, adding that the necessity for sea communication was caused by the great flow of tourists.

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