One evening in April, Almas Djapua parked his car by the Soviet-era port of Sukhumi and headed towards the palm-lined waterfront of the Black Sea. Moments later, the car exploded.

At the time of the attack, Djapua, a local lawyer, had been campaigning to protect a ban on foreign property ownership designed to stop Russian investors buying up prime real estate along this former “Soviet riviera” in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The dispute has highlighted Abkhazia’s delicate predicament: shunned by most of the world, it is so heavily reliant on Russia that gratitude for Moscow’s support is tempered by concern Russia’s embrace could tighten to a chokehold.

Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in a bloody war between 1992-93, shortly after the Soviet Union fell apart. In 2008, after a five-day conflict between Russia and Georgia, Moscow officially recognised the republic as independent, angering both Tbilisi and the west.



Today the region is home to 240,000 people, still relies heavily on Russia. The Kremlin has already given Abkhazia 7.7bn roubles this year to help kickstart its economy, and this influence is evident from the borders to its beaches.

The bridge which separates Abkhazia from Georgia. Photograph: Amos Chapple/RFE/RL

Riviera resurgence

Before the Soviet Union disintegrated, people from the across the USSR flocked to the this strip of Black Sea coast every summer, but tourist numbers have dried up since 1991.

Now, after years of neglect, the region is seeing a resurgence of Russian tourism as diplomatic tensions and security concerns put people off travelling to the beaches of Turkey and Egypt.

It is also a cheaper option than the nearby resort of Sochi, or the once popular Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is awaiting the construction of “Putin’s bridge”, which will enable tourists to bypass mainland Ukraine.

Instead, from June to early autumn, Russian holidaymakers are returning to Abkhazia to sun themselves on the pebble beaches, sleep in Soviet-era hotels still sporting proud statues of Vladimir Lenin, and flocking to see Josef Stalin’s old dacha (holiday home).

Avtandil Gartskiya, the region’s self-appointed tourism minister, says foreign visitors are the “locomotive” of the local economy. “Every year, it’s a record,” he claims. “Last year 1.5 million people visited, and we expect numbers grow by 20% this season.”

A father and daughter walk to the beach at Gagra. Photograph: Amos Chapple/RFE/RL

Holidays, not real estate

But while Russians are welcomed to enjoy a holiday in Abkhazia, they are prohibited from investing in real estate.

Supporters of foreign property ownership argue that Russian money could rejuvenate Abkhazia and help transform the derelict buildings left over from the war.

The state is small, our society is also small... There are very many dangers that exist ​Inal Khashig

But critics – including Djapua, who had his car blown up – say that it would give outsiders too much leverage, and could risk making Abkhazia a province of Russia.



Inal Khashig, the founder and editor of Chegemskaya Pravda, an independent weekly newspaper, says Abkhazia’s independence is too delicate to be gambled with. “The state is small, our society is also small... There are very many dangers that exist and we are trying to ensure ourselves against them, perhaps over-ensure ourselves,” he explains.

Khashig and others point to events in February 2015, when Russian president Vladimir Putin tightened the “strategic partnership” treaty in a bid to bring Abkhazia’s defence policies in line with Moscow’s, bolstering the number of Russian troops in the republic and laying out plans for a

joint “defence and security space”.

On paper, the pact could have left Abkhazia duty-bound to impose sanctions on Turkey, its second-largest trading partner, after claims that the Turkish air force downed a Russian warplane. But there has been little evidence of such rules being imposed.

The Abkhaz authorities have also expressed concerns over Russian state energy giant Rosneft’s plans to drill for oil.

But while Georgia often voices concerns over Russia’s creeping control of Abkhazia, the region has held on more tightly to its independence than South Ossetia – another breakaway region that Russia recognised in 2008.

When news emerged that South Ossetia was considering a referendum on becoming part of Russia, Abkhazia’s de facto prime minister, Artur Mikabia, said that it would never happen on his watch.

Abkhazia will, he proclaimed, remain an “independent state”, and also “loyal ally of great Russia.”

A version of this article first appeared on RFE/RL