Abkhazia: The Georgian foreign ministry has accused Russia of taking a “step toward the de-facto annexation” of its breakaway territory of Abkhazia after President Vladimir Putin and Abkhazia’s leader Raul Khadzhimba signed a treaty yesterday which will see Russian and Abkhazian forces in the territory merged into a joint force under Russian command. Under the terms of the treaty Russia also agreed to invest $110m in the territory’s economic development. Russian troops have been deployed in Abkhazia for more than two decades since the region of 240,000 people broke away from Georgia in a separatist war in the early 1990s. ITAR-TASS , Al-Jazeera
Abkhazia deal draws Georgian accusations of “de-facto annexation”
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