The representatives of the de facto republic of Abkhazia today published a photo of the Abkhaz de facto vice-president Vitaly Gabniya standing with the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, at a banquet in honor of the "Day of Stepanakert" in the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic." This photo has outraged the Georgian public. However, the Georgian Foreign Ministry in the evening after talks with Armenian diplomats made a statement that there was never any such meeting.

The photo, which shows a banquet table with the men standing with glasses in their hands, appeared early in the morning on the page of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the de facto Republic of Abkhazia, Kan Tania, with the caption: “The delegation of the Republic of Abkhazia welcomes Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and President Bako Sahakyan.”

On the same day on the website of de facto President Raul Khajimba, appeared a greeting to Bako Sahakyan, "on the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic", which stated:

"The Republic of Abkhazia - a friend and ally of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. We are interested in the further intensive development of mutually beneficial relations with Nagorno Karabakh in various fields, ready to take concrete steps in this direction".

Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, Gigi Gigiadze, spoke to the Georgian Ambassador to Armenia and Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia to clarify the situation.

"The Armenian side claims that no meetings with representatives from the separatist regime were held,” Gigiadze told reporters. “This is another political speculation, such as those often used by representatives of the occupation regime. Armenia is a friend to Georgia who has openly expressed support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. And we keep a very close cooperation," he emphasized.

However, the photograph taken "at the meeting, which was not" had by that point already gone viral on all social networks. Further, correspondents of the Armenian Service of Radio Liberty was able to confirm that it was not created on Photoshop.

Dimitri Dolaberidze

EDITOR'S NOTE: The print version of this story appeared without the quotation marks around "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic." This was an editorial mistake and in no way suggests our recognition of said location.

08 September 2016 19:14