Ardzinba Issues Ultimatum to UNDP, Threatens “Adequate” Response
Inal Ardzinba, the de-facto top diplomat of Russia-occupied Abkhazia, threatened the “timely and adequate response” against the United Nations Development Programme at a meeting with its programme manager, Vardon Hoca (Hoxha), if the UN agency does not officially refute “the goals of a USAID-funded project” by March 7 at 6:00 p.m., the media reported on February 29.
He also demanded the publication of the list of Abkhaz information resources funded by UNDP, as well as the objectives and volume of their funding.
Ardzinba reportedly protested to Hoca “the publication on the official website of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) of information indicating the goals and objectives” of funding of UNDP by the USAID, which, as the de facto authorities say, include “de-occupation of Abkhazia” and “countering the harmful influence of the Kremlin”.
According to Ardzinba, such a publication damages UNDP’s reputation as a UN agency and “contradicts the purposes of the UN Charter.”
In addition, Ardzinba reportedly drew the UNDP programme manager’s attention to “specific facts of UNDP funding of Abkhaz information resources that attempt to destabilize public opinion.”
In November last year the de-facto authorities said they would ban the international organizations which recognize the occupation from entering Abkhazia. Soon in December 2023, in response to concerns about “non-transparent activities and perceived misinformation”, Ardzinba, announced a new approach to dealing with international NGOs and UN agencies and declared USAID Regional Director Persona Non-Grata. According to Ardzinba’s statement, the decision was in particular prompted by ‘discrepancies found in project questionnaires’, notably the ones from the UN Development Programme’s Partnership for Sustainability, which is funded by USAID.
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