This confirms what Caucasus Plus has repeatedly written about for the Armenian lobby, Georgian Abkhazia has become much more important than Artsakh. And they will not return this occupied territory to Georgia, where the Armenian ethnos has already become a majority and is growing in number (while in the Republic of Armenia itself, Armenian villages and even towns outside Yerevan are becoming empty).

Since the authorities of the Republic of Armenia have effectively 'abandoned' Russia and are moving to the camp of its geopolitical opponents, the withdrawal of the Russian base and border guards from Armenia is almost inevitable, but nothing will change in the plans of the Russian-Armenian lobby about Abkhazia. They will 'bite' into this Georgian territory and defend its separatist status to the last. Even though this is fundamentally against Russia's interests.

After the loss of the separatist 'Artsakh' coast, Abkhazia, the most valuable 'trophy' for the Armenian nationalists, captured the foreign land by the sea that they dreamed of. After all, in the same 'Artsakh' there is no sea, the climate isn't so 'resort-like', and even during the occupation Armenians left it, trying to move to other places - Yerevan, Sochi and Abkhazia. And now, after the de-occupation of Karabakh, the Armenian population has left the territories of Azerbaijan. They have begun to consider Abkhazia as a 'place for Artsakh in exile' and are actively settling there.

As a result, the Armenian lobby in the Russian Federation and its 'servants' are fundamentally suppressing any talk of the possible reintegration of Abkhazia and Samara into Georgia. Regardless of the relations between the Georgian and Russian governments. Even if it is hypothetically suggested that Georgia might restore diplomatic relations with Russia and that Russia might agree to return Abkhazia to a status acceptable to Georgia, the Armenian lobby and those who defend its interests in the Russian government will do everything to ensure that there is not even a hint of Abkhazia's return to Georgia. These lobbyists will do everything, literally everything, to ensure that there is no reconciliation between the brotherly Georgian and Abkhazian peoples.

Therefore, it is no coincidence that after the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said in his Independence Day speech on 26 May 2024 that by 2030 Georgia will be "united and together with the Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers - a full member of the European family", there was a reaction from a long-time servant of the Armenian lobby, Konstantin Zatulin.

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Konstantin Zatulin, commenting on Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's statement that Georgia would join the EU by 2030 and reunite with Abkhazia and South Ossetia by that time, immediately categorically rejected the possibility of the latter. He made it clear that servants of the Armenian lobby in the Russian government like him would not allow this to happen.

I don't know what has inspired the Georgian prime minister, apart from the desire to demonstrate his patriotism. How he is going to give back Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are developing as independent states under the protection of Russia and are recognised as such, by 2030, I do not understand,' Zatulin said.

We have repeatedly written about how separatist Abkhazia and so-called South Ossetia are 'developing'. In Abkhazia, the indigenous Abkhazian ethnic group is dying out, the entire economy of this territory has long been in the hands of Armenian settlers who feel like 'masters' here. In the Tskhinvali region, the situation for Ossetians is even worse. Apart from Tskhinvali itself, the separatist territory is deserted, and dozens of Ossetian villages have been completely abandoned. Armenians are not going to settle here, but Abkhazia was prepared for 'another Armenian state' from the very beginning.

It is no coincidence that the same Zatulin, immediately after the anti-terrorist operation carried out by Azerbaijan on 19-20 September, which ended with the complete elimination of the remnants of the separatist "Artsakh", particularly noted how the separatist authorities of Khankendi were connected with the Abkhazian separatist project. They considered it as a "reserve airfield" in case of the collapse of their "Artsakh".

Konstantin Zatulin then recalled that he'd 'always been in favour of recognising the right of the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination', suggesting that Karabakh's Armenians could also 'self-determine' in separatist Abkhazia, for whose 'recognition' they had been seeking even before the separatists' 'independence' was recognised by Russia.

As for the self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh, I would like to say that throughout this history I have consistently and always been in favour of recognising the right of the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination. That is why I compare it with Donbass's self-determination and Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's self-determination. For 20 years I have been trying to build links between these unrecognised states. Through my mediation, delegations from Nagorno-Karabakh travelled to Abkhazia and met with the Abkhazian leadership. This was before Abkhazia was recognised by the Russian Federation, before 2008. The President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arkady Ghukasyan, and President Bako Sahakyan came there," Konstantin Zatulin said at the time.

Well, the leaders of the 'Artsakh' separatists 'came to the occupied territories of Georgia'. And today many of them are where they should be - in an Azerbaijani prison.

It should be remembered that this was said at the very moment when the "Artsakh" separatists capitulated and the Karabakh Armenians were "packing their bags" to leave the Azerbaijani land (even though Azerbaijan offered them to accept its citizenship). And the Karabakh Armenians, of course, thought about which land to declare their "ancient and ancestral" with the "right to self-determination". And Konstantin Zatulin points directly to such a land - Abkhazia, which he, together with the separatist leaders of the so-called "Artsakh", began to "prepare" for the mass settlement of Armenians long before the Second Karabakh War.

It is also interesting to note that while the opposition in Georgia today accuses Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the Georgian Dream of an allegedly 'pro-Russian policy', Konstantin Zatulin is deliberately trying to prove to the Russian public that Georgia is 'pro-Western and anti-Russian'. And therefore, according to his logic, Russia should not de-occupy Abkhazia.

According to Konstantin Zatulin, Irakli Kobakhidze's statement about unity with Abkhazia and Samachablo 'is most likely caused by the internal political struggle that has escalated in Georgia in connection with the adoption of the law on foreign agents. And the Georgian authorities, despite supporting this law against the opinion of the West, still want to show that we are not really under Russian influence. We are setting goals that conflict with Russia, and you can be calm about our orientation towards certain priorities in our policy that go against Russia's interests. He is making excuses to the domestic opposition and to the West," Zatulin said.

People like Zatulin and their Armenian masters are most afraid of improving relations between Russia and Georgia because this will inevitably raise the question of the de-occupation of Abkhazia. The very Abkhazia that Armenian nationalists already consider their own. For the sake of keeping this foreign land, they are ready to launch new blows against Russia, they will do everything to make Russia open a second front against Georgia, but only if they want to continue settling their favourite coastal territories under the protection of 'Russian bayonets'.

Therefore, one should not be deceived. The Armenian lobby in Russia will do everything it can to prevent Russia from returning Abkhazia and Samara to Georgia. To this end, they will instigate conflicts between Georgia and Russia wherever and whenever possible.

Grigol Giorgadze