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The embattled leader of Georgia’s Moscow-backed separatist region of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, was quoted as saying on November 16 that “legitimate authorities” control all of Abkhazia except for the parliamentary complex, which opposition protesters seized control of a day earlier to block a controversial Russia. -related vote.

The opposition has since demanded the resignation of Bzhania and other senior officials and new elections.

Bzhania’s press service said he held an urgent meeting with his cabinet at a school in his hometown of Tamysh to discuss “ways to stabilize the situation that arose.”

Bzhania had earlier said he was “ready” to resign if opposition supporters agreed to leave the parliament building in the capital Sukhumi.

There were fears of escalating violence amid the storming of parliament, which followed weeks of tension, in a region whose independence Moscow has supported since a five-day war against Georgian forces in 2008 over another breakaway Georgian province, South Ossetia.

WATCH: The leader of the Moscow-backed Abkhazia region said on November 16 that he would resign if protesters leave the parliament grounds. A day earlier, protesters against an investment deal with Moscow stormed the parliament in Sukhumi, the administrative center of the Georgian breakaway region.

Opposition leaders have demanded not only the permanent abandonment of a proposed deal with Russia that opponents say would unfairly open the real estate market to wealthy Russians, but also the resignation of Bzhania and his vice president and breakaway prime minister.

“The situation will be stabilized. We will bring everything back to the legal framework,” Bzhania’s press service quoted him as saying on November 16.

He reportedly added that “the entire country” – which is predominantly considered Georgian territory internationally – “is controlled by the legitimate authorities, with the exception of the complex of buildings they have occupied.”

Tamysh is about 40 kilometers from the capital of the region.

The opposition called for a new meeting on November 16, after protesters stormed the parliament grounds the day before over a property deal with Moscow and demanded Bzhania’s ouster.

“Those who seized the buildings, those who tried to commit a coup d’état must leave the area, after which I am ready to call elections, ready to resign and stand for new elections,” said Bzhania from Tamysh.

However, the opposition appeared determined to ignore Bzhania’s demands.

“Aslan Bzhania is resorting to desperate attempts to preserve his government,” a so-called opposition coordination council said in a statement, adding: “His reign is over.”

The statement accused Bzhania of “enriching his relatives and a narrow circle close to him.”

Local media said lawmakers on November 15 had failed to ratify the deal, which opponents fear would allow rich Russians to acquire property in the picturesque Black Sea region, pushing property prices higher and making it unaffordable for locals.

Bzhania, a former head of Abkhazia’s state security service, told his supporters on November 16 that “tremendous pressure is being exerted on members of parliament so that parliament makes an illegal decision to dismiss the president.” But he warned that “the 2014 scenario will not be repeated”, an allusion to one of two instances in which Abkhazian leaders stepped down amid opposition protests.

On 1 June 2014, Abkhazian leader Aleksander Ankvab resigned following opposition protests led by Raul Khajimba, who took his place, only to also resign after the Supreme Court overturned the results of the 2019 presidential election. Bzhania then became president after winning a voting in March 2020.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgian rule after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Moscow recognized the independence of the two regions after Russian forces repelled a Georgian attempt to retake South Ossetia in a five-day war in 2008 that ended in Georgia’s defeat.

Most countries still recognize Abkhazia as part of Georgia, but its economy is almost entirely dependent on Moscow, which pays salaries to public administrators as well as social payments to residents.

Georgia’s pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili responded to tensions in what Tbilisi considers its occupied region by accusing Russia of “taking accelerated steps towards annexation” of Abkhazia.

Tensions have been high in the region in recent weeks, with opposition activists demanding an end to Russia’s dominance of the region and its economy, although opposition parties said on November 15 that their protest is not against Russia.

“The actions of the protesters are not aimed at relations between Russia and Abkhazia,” they said in a joint statement. “In fact, we, the opposition, have always emphasized the importance of fraternal and strategic ties between our countries.”

Russia’s foreign ministry accused the Abkhaz opposition of exceeding legal means and “provoking an escalation”. It said through a spokeswoman that Russia was not interfering and expected the situation “to be resolved exclusively by peaceful political means.”

Moscow recommended that all Russian citizens in Abkhazia leave “if possible” and that others refrain from traveling there.