"Privilege" for Russian tourists

At a press conference organized specially for Russian journalists President Sergei Baghapsh spoke about the new initiative concerning the Russian citizens who visit Abkhazia in their own vehicles. The initiative is about not noticing them.

"I ordered the Ministry of Interior and all of the employees of the state car inspection that they do not stop the cars with Russian plates. If I catch anyone stopping a Russian car, I will fire him immediately," the head of state warned.

The motif of such an order of the president is clear – it is no secret that the tourists with cars (mainly Russians) are a good source of additional income for the Abkhazian road police officers (“GAI”). Although Baghapsh did not mention openly that the problem is money extortion but his words that "instead of showing lack of culture, we should help people when they need our help" point to that exact problem. "Do not take money from Russian tourists", this is how the president’s order really sounded.

But this order is hardly a new thing in Abkhazia. During the past two holiday seasons Baghapsh had said about this prohibition. But perhaps because the new press conference was made specially for Russian journalists, the news that the police inspectors should not be taking bribes has acquired an impulse of novelty. Of course, nobody has illusions that from now on the law enforcement officers will obey the law and close eyes on Russian citizens. If this were so, the president would not be announcing it for the third time.

No matter how fair the motifs of the Abkhazian president, the legal aspect of this order are absolutely flawed as it is apparently discriminative. Under it only Russians get "privileged" treatment while tourists from other countries (not many but still) and local car owners are left to be eaten by "GAI". The logic of the document basically means that they can be stopped and ripped off just like before as the new rule is only for Russians.

It is worth noting that the representatives of Russian tourism industry are not too happy with Sergei Baghapsh’s order themselves. The press speaker of the Russian tourism industry Irina Turina speculates that the official permission to violate traffic rules will be the best advertisement for spending holidays in Abkhazia and will attract significant number of tourists from Russia. "The road police officers could have been given such an instruction internally and not publically. It somehow feels odd," Turina says.

The ineffectiveness of this order may be the result of incorrect focuses made by the Abkhazian government. Instead of prohibiting police to stop Russian citizens on the streets, it would have been more logical to declare an all-out war on corruption, at least on the streets. This way not only tourists but local car owners too would have been happier. Now they look like victims rather than rightful citizens of their country.

The terminology used in the article belongs to the author only and not to "The Liberal"

The article has been prepared with the support of Heinrich Boell Foundation.

The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessary reflect the opinions of Heinrich Boell Foundation.