One of the leaders of the Georgian opposition, Elene Khoshtaria, who is serving a prison sentence for defacing a banner of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has called the delivery of fuel to occupied Abkhazia “high treason.” According to Khoshtaria, the “commercial transaction” was carried out on orders from Moscow.
“I wonder who could possibly believe that Putin and Ivanishvili, along with their Kobakhidze—who view people solely as tools to achieve their own partisan and personal interests and are capable of using chemical weapons against their own people to hold onto power—have suddenly developed sympathy for the residents of Abkhazia. So moved, in fact, that Bidzina rushed to deliver gasoline as humanitarian aid. Let them tell these fairy tales to someone else. The people will not buy it.
When you approach the occupation line, even if you are carrying 1 kg of candy, pasta, or milk, you have to pass through multiple Georgian checkpoints. To get through these checkpoints, you must call the SGB (State Security Service) in advance and give notice of your visit. You are stopped, your passport details are recorded, and after a certain delay, you are either allowed through or turned back.
How do you imagine this: a business carrying 300, let alone 3,000 tons of gasoline, rolls up to the occupation line, and first the Georgian side lets them through with words like ‘Oh, how kind of you,’ and then the Russians welcome them with applause on the other side? The occupying power, which exercises effective control there and bears responsibility for any emerging situation, simply sits and watches Georgians and Abkhazians exuding kindness and helping each other in a time of need? Let them tell these fairy tales to someone else too,” Khoshtaria writes in a letter from prison.
The opposition politician is convinced that the fuel delivery to Abkhazia “was not a humanitarian action at all.” According to her, it was “the direct execution of yet another Russian order at the expense of trampling on our state’s territorial integrity.”
“This was a Russian special operation carried out jointly with Georgian Dream, and it constitutes high treason. Moreover, besides inevitable justice in the future, if I were in their shoes, I would also be seriously wary of the Ukrainians, not to mention Western countries and sanctions.”
Khoshtaria also called on the opposition to launch a “large-scale anti-occupation campaign” this autumn. According to her, it is essential to demonstrate to Putin, Ivanishvili, and the entire world: “No matter what laws are passed, Georgia has no intention of coming to terms with the occupation and will continue the struggle against the regime until the end.”
In recent days, amid emerging fuel supply shortages in Abkhazia, the opposition party United National Movement shared information regarding the transit of fuel into the occupied region from territory controlled by Tbilisi.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the deliveries were carried out by private business, not the government. “Overall, the current legal framework permits this, including the Law on Occupied Territories. If such a step was taken or is taken in the future, all such steps are carried out strictly within the framework of the Law on Occupied Territories,” Kobakhidze noted.
Ruling Georgian Dream MP Rati Ionatamishvili wrote that “it was 3,000 tons, which amounts to just a few trucks.” He also assured that the fuel could not have been transported to Russia, adding that the volume in question represents merely 0.001% of Russian consumption.
