Voices of South Caucasus

According to the general prosecutor's office, Nevolin obtained the Abkhaz passport from an unknown mediator in 2007 and paid 300,000 roubles for it. Such a high price of Abkhaz passports in the "black market" is due to the fact that it is impossible to purchase property in the republic without a passport. That is precisely what Nevolin wanted. A few days after he obtained the passport, he bought a house in Gudauta.

Two weeks ago, the Abkhaz president signed a decree, appointing education, interior, and social welfare ministers. Daur Nachqebia, Otar Khetsia, and Olga Koltukova respectively will work on these posts.

It is very risky to stammer on one and the same note like a damaged phonograph. No matter how fine a song may be, the deformed phonograph can spoil the feast once and for all. The owner of the "phonograph" will sooner or later become bored with the repetitive music. In such cases, owners either replace the disk or try to repair the instrument.

Acting President of South Ossetia - Vadim Brovtsev has already started doing business. Various personnel changes were made last week. However, no room has so far been found in the Brovtsev government for the opposition, whose supporters intend to mobilize in the centre of Tskhinvali again in the near future.

The opposition and government in South Ossetia have reached an agreement: President Eduard Kokoyty has resigned, new presidential elections will be held in March, and opposition candidate Alla Dzhioyeva will be allowed to participate in the elections.

The careless era for the Abkhaz government is coming to its end. 2012 will be the last year covered by the Moscow-funded “comprehensive plan for the socioeconomic development of Abkhazia”. The local elite was quite spoiled by the gold rain of 11 billion. The path from an ordinary salesman to a nouveau riche owning large real estate, Limousines, and cases of cash (as a rule, such people have little trust in banks), has proved to be quite short for the Abkhaz elite. Even Bill Gates could envy such a speed of becoming rich. But I would like to emphasize – only a speed, because what we have here is not a business with its traditional sense and never meant to be.

"No compromises! The only way out of the situation is to recognize the results of the elections. Thousands of people supported me. I am South Ossetian president," 62-year-old Alla Dzhioyeva said at a rally of her supporters as she emerged from her meeting with Russian president's envoy Sergey Vinokurov.

Such a surprise was the most unpredictable in South Ossetia, a region where pro-Russian sentiments are quite strong. But events have unfolded so that in the second round the Kremlin's candidate and the South Ossetian Minister of Emergency Affairs, Anatoliy Bibilov has to defeat an opposition candidate, the former Education Minister Alla Dzhioyeva. It is hard to predict whether he manages to do so.

The Abkhaz government had never seriously interfered in my life, until I have started communicating with my Georgian colleagues.

Last week South Ossetia found itself on the verge of civil confrontation. According to the various reports, from 1,000 to 2,000 people assembled themselves outside the Central Electoral Commission. They were supporters of presidential candidate Dzhambulat Tedeyev, the chief coach of the Russian national freestyle wrestling team. Tedeyev is now Kokoyty's main enemy and the opposition's number one presidential candidate.