Abkhaz Reports: NATO Parliamentarians to Visit Abkhazia

A delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly will visit Abkhazia on May 6, the Abkhaz news agency Apsnypress reported on April 19 quoting unrecognized republic’s Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba.

Shamba said that the delegation, which will meet Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh, has expressed a willingness to visit a military base in Gudauta.

“The Abkhaz side has not yet given its consent to visit this former military base, as the territory of the base is under the Russian Defense Ministry’s subordination and this issue needs to be agreed on with them [the Russian side],” Sergey Shamba said.

Tbilisi insists on international monitoring of the Gudauta base to verify Russia’s claims that it has already closed down its military base there, as envisaged by 1999 OSCE Istanbul treaty.

Recently, Apsnypress quoted Maj.-Gen. Sergey Chaban, commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone, that currently only 4 helicopters and 130 Russian servicemen belonging to the peacekeeping forces are deployed at the Gudauta base.