Voices of South Caucasus

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Abkhaz presidential candidates have signed a memorandum for "fair elections" and pledged to play according to the rules in order to prevent a situation like that in 2004 from taking shape again. The election struggle is already under way at a full pace. Several dozens of influential people have already pledged to support one of the candidates - Sergey Shamba. Everything was fair. There was no black PR at this meeting.

Less than a week remains until Ankvab officially receives the status of president, but preparations for changes have already started in government offices in Sukhumi.

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.

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