The State Security Service of Abkhazia is the principal security and intelligence agency of Abkhazia.
On 27 November 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia decreed to abolish the Abkhazian KGB and to establish the State Security Service. [1] On 4 December 1992, the Supreme Soviet shortened its name to Security Service of Abkhazia. [2]
Until 1992, the State Security Service was led by Grigori Komoshvili. After the outbreak of the 1992–1993 war with Georgia, Komoshvili's Deputy Gennadi Berulava became the new head. [3] In early October 1993, after the war had ended, he was dismissed and succeeded by Astamur Tarba. [3] [4]
On 20 November 1992, during the war, the Abkhazian border guard was established. [5]
On 5 May 1997, President Vladislav Ardzinba decreed to rename the Service back to State Security Service of Abkhazia. [2]
After a bomb attack on 13 December 1999 in Sukhumi targeting government officials, Ardzinba dismissed Astamur Tarba and replaced him with First Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee Raul Khajimba. [6] On 18 June 2001, Khajimba also became First Vice Premier, [7] and on 1 November he was replaced as State Security Service Head by Interior Minister Zurab Agumava. [8] [9]
On 2 April 2003, Agumava was replaced by Advisor to the President on Military Matters Givi Agrba. [10]
Agrba handed in his resignation on 15 June 2004 along with Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba and First Vice Premier Astamur Tarba following the murder of opposition politician Garri Aiba. [11] Agrba's resignation was accepted by Ardzinba on 7 July and he was replaced by Mikhail Tarba. [12]
Following the Tangerine Revolution and the election of President Sergei Bagapsh in 2005, he appointed Iuri Ashuba as Security Service Head on 28 February 2005. After his December 2009 re-election, he replaced Ashuba with Aslan Bzhania on 23 February 2010. [13]
Bzhania remained Security Service Head following the death in office of Bagapsh and the 2011 election of Alexander Ankvab.
After the May 2014 Revolution and Ankvab's forced resignation, Bzhania became the candidate representing the outgoing government in the August 2014 Presidential election. After his loss to opposition candidate Raul Khajimba, he was replaced as Security Service Head by his deputy (and head of the Border Guard) Zurab Margania on 29 September. [14]
Raul Jumkovich Khajimba is an Abkhazian politician, and served as President of Abkhazia from 25 September 2014 until 12 January 2020. He was also Chairman of the Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia from 2010 to 2015. Khajimba previously held the offices of Vice President (2005–2009), Prime Minister (2003–2004) and Defence Minister (2002–2003). He unsuccessfully ran for president in 2004, 2009 and 2011. He resigned the presidency in 2020 due to protests against him.
The prime minister of Abkhazia is the de facto head of government of the partially recognized Republic of Abkhazia, that is de jure part of Georgia.
The office of Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia was created on 17 May 1993, during the 1992–1993 war with Georgia. Empirical data nevertheless show that Abkhazia's Foreign Ministry also enacts diplomatic relations, such as the sending of diplomatic notes, with various countries across the world, including Nauru, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Syria. It is also active in managing relations with other post-Soviet de facto states such as South Ossetia, Transnistria, and the Lugansk People's Republic.
Sergei Shamba is a senior politician from Abkhazia. He is currently a member of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia and Chairman of United Abkhazia. He was Prime Minister of Abkhazia under President Sergei Bagapsh from 13 February 2010 until 27 September 2011. Between 1997 and 2010 he had been Minister for Foreign Affairs under both Bagapsh and his predecessor Vladislav Ardzinba, with only a half-year interruption in 2004. Shamba has twice unsuccessfully participated in presidential elections, in 2004 and 2011. He has been a staunch proponent for dialogue between Abkhazia and Georgia.
The Government of the Republic of Abkhazia governs the partially recognised Republic of Abkhazia.
Presidential elections were held in Abkhazia on 12 January 2005. The result was a victory for Sergei Bagapsh of United Abkhazia, who received over 90% of the vote.
Presidential elections were held in Abkhazia on 3 October 2004, the first that were competitive. Election law prohibited incumbent President Vladislav Ardzinba from running for a third term and he instead backed Prime Minister Raul Khadjimba, who also enjoyed support from the Russian authorities. Khadjimba's main opponent was Sergei Bagapsh, who was supported by the two major opposition parties, United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara, and later also by Aitaira when their candidate Alexander Ankvab was barred from running in a controversial decision by the Central Election Commission.
The Abkhazian passport is issued to citizens of the Republic of Abkhazia for the purpose of international travel and for the purpose of legal identification within Abkhazia. As Abkhazia is only recognised by Russia, Venezuela, Syria, Nicaragua and Nauru, for all other destinations Abkhazian citizens must use another passport for international travel.
Stanislav Lakoba is an academic and politician from Abkhazia. Lakoba was Sergei Bagapsh's vice-presidential candidate in the 2004 presidential election and from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2011 to 2013 he served as Secretary of the Security Council. He is Professor in Archeology, Ethnology and History at the Abkhazian State University.
The Government of President Sergei Bagapsh was the Government of the Republic of Abkhazia from 2005 until 2011.
The Government of President Vladislav Ardzinba was the first Government of the Republic of Abkhazia.
The Government of President Alexander Ankvab was the Government of the Republic of Abkhazia from 2011 until 2014.
Valeri Ramshukhovich Bganba is an Abkhazian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Abkhazia from 18 September 2018 to 23 April 2020 and as the acting President of Abkhazia from 13 January to 23 April 2020. Prior to that he was the Speaker of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia from 2012 until 2017. He was elected as speaker on 3 April 2012 and was succeeded by Valery Kvarchia on 12 April 2017. Bganba became acting President on 1 June 2014, following the resignation of Alexander Ankvab as a result of the 2014 Abkhazian political crisis. On 25 September 2014 he was replaced by Raul Khajimba, the winner of the presidential elections on 24 August.
Almasbei Ivanovich Kchach was a former government member and vice-presidential candidate from Abkhazia who committed suicide when investigators came to arrest him in connection with an assassination attempt on President Alexander Ankvab.
The Minister for Internal Affairs holds a ministerial position in the government of the Republic of Abkhazia. The post existed in the Soviet period within the Council of Ministers of the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and since then has been occupied by 10 politicians, of whom three have occupied it twice. The current Minister is Aslan Kobakhia.
Zurab Mikhailovich Agumava is the head of the Supreme Court and a former politician from Abkhazia.
Givi Kamugovich Agrba was a politician from Abkhazia.
The Government of President Raul Khajimba was the Government of the Republic of Abkhazia from 2014 until 2020.
Daur Arshba is an Abkhazian politician. He is the Head of the Presidential Administration, having been appointed by President Raul Khajimba on 10 October 2016, and Chairman of the pro-government Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia. In the past, he has served as Vice Speaker of the People's Assembly and as Head of Tkvarcheli District. Following the death of Gennadi Gagulia on 8 September 2018, Arshba was appointed Acting Prime Minister of Abkhazia, a position he held until 18 September 2018.
The Government of President Aslan Bzhania is the current Government of the Republic of Abkhazia.