Yuri Vladimirov, general director of JSC Sochi Sea Port, recently said that he is negotiating the launch of passenger traffic on the Black Sea to Georgia: "We hope to [launch passenger traffic] to Abkhazia and Georgia. Negotiations are under way so far. The intention is to launch [transportation] this summer".

Vladimirov clearly does not consider Abkhazia to be an integral part of Georgia. He further clarified that the transportation from Sochi to Georgia will be carried out in Batumi.

"There is a very big request to open new routes of passenger transportation by sea. We will try to meet the demands of our tourists as far as possible to develop in this direction," Vladimirov added.

 The Georgian Maritime Transport Agency responded to the statement by saying that the Russian side had not approached the Georgian side regarding maritime passenger traffic and it is unknown what kind of negotiations the Sochi port administration is talking about.

 "Regarding the information circulated in the media regarding the commencement of maritime passenger traffic between Georgia and the Russian Federation, we state that Georgia does not have maritime passenger traffic with Russian seaports. Moreover, the Russian side has not approached the Georgian side, and accordingly we do not know what kind of negotiations the administration of Sochi port is talking about," reads the statement of the Agency.

Such statements about the transportation and resumption of air traffic between Russia and Georgia have recently started pouring out of horns of plenty from Russia. At that, the main direction of such traffic is interesting - near Abkhazia or through the occupied Abkhazia. Naturally, without its de-occupation and without the return of refugees. The Kremlin propagandists do not get tired of claiming that supposedly Georgians and Abkhazians "cannot live together".

To put it simply, in fact, Georgians are being asked to forget about Abkhazia, and in the name of abstract "cooperation with Russia and transit". And in whose interests this cooperation and transit are going to take place is also obvious. In the interests of the Armenian lobby.

None other than flagrant Georgianophobe Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov-Kalantarov gave a start to such "push for cooperation" against Georgia. It was Lavrov-Kalantarov who "formalized" occupation and recognition of so-called "independence" of Abkhazia and tried to justify ethnic cleansing of Georgian population on this territory.

On 18 January 2022 Lavrov-Kalantarov spoke in favour of resumption of air links with Georgia, which at the time was broken off largely on his initiative. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the following: "We are in favour of Abkhazia and South Ossetia building relations with Georgia. There are mechanisms of dialogue, in which we also take part. I am glad that contacts between the countries are developing. Georgia's GDP has grown by 10% thanks to Russian tourists and trade with Russia. I respect the Georgian authorities for not dancing to the West's tune and not joining the sanctions. Perhaps they should bring back direct flights. This small country and its government have the courage to withstand pressure from the West and act in their own interests.”

The same Lavrov-Kalantarov and "near-Kremlin experts" suddenly started "praising" Georgia, hoping to convince Georgians "how good it will be for them" if they lose Abkhazia and Samachablo and "develop cooperation with Russia". But they failed to mention that this "cooperation" will turn Abkhazia and the remaining territory of Georgia into a "transit corridor" to Armenia, and possibly even lead to the loss of sovereignty. And the fact that in the end Georgians will lose not only Abkhazia, but their statehood in general, says directly the Kremlin-affiliated telegraph channel Nabat.”

Back on 27 December 2022, this Telegram channel wrote ( https://t.me/nabat_rus/1990 ): "For Georgia, return to Russia is the only realistic scenario to live with Sukhumi in one state. No matter how much Tbilisi dreams otherwise. And I will say more, for Georgia this is the only scenario for the next few years not to find themselves in the millstones of war. If Georgians were smarter and shrewd, they would look for ways to join Russia today. It's difficult, painful, but it gives a chance of life to a small Georgian state.

And here is an interesting compilation of materials of the same telegram channel after Lavrov's last statement about Georgia.

19 January 2022 (https://t.me/nabat_rus/2088): "An interesting trend towards Georgia has started to emerge. The Central Bank has included the Georgian lari in its list of currencies to be traded for roubles. Lavrov talks about resumption of flights. He is immediately responded to positively by the Georgian side. It seems that after the Georgian government took a conditionally neutral position on arms deliveries to Ukraine, relations between Tbilisi and Moscow received a positive shift.

This opens a significant window of opportunity for Russia and Georgia. For Georgians, establishing relations with Russia is clearly more important today than establishing relations with Georgia is for Russia. Tbilisi has understood that it cannot be under the NATO umbrella, they do not want to repeat the mistakes of Ukraine and this means that they need to build relations with Moscow and it is better to do this before Ukraine and NATO are defeated.

I have to hand it to Tbilisi, the analysis is correct and conclusions are right. By the way, Abkhazia should have thought about joining Russia before Georgia does.»

In other words, this is an instruction to "stubborn" Abkhazians who do not want annexation and do not hurry to give Pitsunda to Putin - hurry up, otherwise "we will annex you together with the Georgians".

The next day on January 20th, 2022 Nabat allegedly "praised" Georgia and wrote (https://t.me/nabat_rus/2104 ):

"Curious data comes from the Russian-Georgian border. The Georgian Border Guard Service refuses to grant entry into its territory to persons caught engaging in anti-Russian rhetoric. Earlier, Georgia limited the stay of the "patriots of Upper Lars" in the country by 360 days, after the expiry of which the contingent is obliged to leave the country. As they say in Tbilisi, these people may have problems re-entering the country. I would also like to note that this decision was not imposed by Moscow. It is not imposed by the security services of Russia. This is a proactive decision of Georgia that is clearly aimed at accelerating negotiations with Russia to normalize relations. And one of the points of these negotiations will be Abkhazia. Without this issue the Georgians will not be able to do without it. I have repeatedly said that all the problems of Abkhazia can be solved by becoming a part of the Russian Federation on the rights of the republic. There is also the option of joining the Russia-Belarus union state, but as I see it this option will not give Abkhazia for centuries guarantees of sovereignty and territorial integrity, unlike the first option. I should note that judging by the pace of the processes Sukhumi has a maximum of one year to make a decision.

In general, everything is clear. The Kremlin wants to incorporate not only Abkhazia, but the entire Georgia into the new empire. Georgians are seduced by the fact that they, supposedly, "will find themselves in one state with Abkhazia", while Abkhazians themselves are hurried to agree to annexation. That is, we have here a kind of another "divorce of peoples", which at the time were artificially lashed against each other. And from materials of January 22nd, 2022 of the same Nabat (https://t.me/nabat_rus/2113) it is clear in whose interests this "divorce" is carried out:

"In today's Armenia, an attempt to give up Karabakh would bury the career of any politician. Try saying in any part of Armenia that Karabakh is 'an integral part of Azerbaijan' and I will not give a penny for your life.

Armenians are extremely far from accepting Karabakh's transfer to Baku's control. You can create an information wave, you can create an illusion, you can buy a couple thousand people with the right slogans, but what will you do with the flags with graves of fallen defenders of Karabakh, which stand in every village and at the entrance to Yerevan from the airport, growing all over the country?

A treaty of alliance between Yerevan, Moscow and Minsk on becoming part of a union state could solve all of Yerevan's problems at once. Better still, it could be part of Russia. But today there is no political force in Armenia willing to play this field. Although there is and is a great demand for such a development among the population.

In other words, it is in fact a matter of making a "corridor" to Armenia, incorporating it into a "union state" together with Karabakh in Azerbaijan. However, this is unrealistic without the occupation of Georgia. Therefore, the same near-Kremlin Armenian "strategists" are planning such occupation and annexation of Georgia to prevent the return of Georgian refugees in Abkhazia. They are trying to "lure" Georgians into the occupation not by returning to Abkhazia, but by some kind of "confederation" with this ancient Georgian territory. This is evidenced, for example, by the January 24th article by Damir Katsuba "Georgia-Abkhazia: eternal enmity or peace?" published on the website ABKHAZIA-CENTER ( https://telegra.ph/Gruziya-Abhaziya-vechnaya-vrazhda-ili-mir-01-24): "...the solution could be regional integration, in particular a confederation of the Abkhaz and Georgian entities. Such an agreement has been drafted before. Both in Tbilisi and Sukhumi understand: the return of Abkhazia to Georgia is impossible: over the last 30 years, a generation has grown up without the experience of living together. 

Two equal (independent) entities (in this case Abkhazia and Georgia) will be able to establish bilateral diplomatic and consular relations with foreign countries and have representation in international organisations such as the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. In this case, the mediators and guarantors of the constitutional set-up of the future union can be the U.S., the EU and Russia. 

The new agreement will open wide possibilities. They are talking about the reopening of the railway connection for the entire region, and in the long term the creation of a free trade zone between Europe and the South Caucasus on the territory of Abkhazia......

As for Tbilisi, the free movement of citizens throughout the confederation will confirm the success of the ruling Georgian Dream foreign policy and greatly weaken the Georgian opposition."

That is, the maximum that Georgian refugees will be allowed is to once again suffer - to come to Abkhazia and admire their flat or house "from a distance" and the life of their new owners, usually of "ancient nationality". They will not be allowed too close to their property seized by looters, not to mention present their rights to it - the FSB will try its best.

And the fact that such aggression against Georgia is being prepared, as well as transit through Abkhazia, and that this "economic cooperation" without de-occupation is only "bait", is directly demonstrated by information published in a telegram on the SVR General channel of January 23 (https://t.me/generalsvr/1374 ):

"...Putin said it was necessary to implement the idea of a quick and effective 'special operation' against a neighbouring country, where victory could be almost 'guaranteed'. The president considers Georgia to be such a country. Putin is sure that by reaching an agreement with part of the current Georgian leadership it is possible to provoke a conflict, realizing a victory scenario, and at the same time help the pro-Russian part of the Georgian leadership to get rid of "undesirable elements" in power. At the same time, the Russian president intends to solve the "Armenian question", although he did not specify how. President has had ready scenarios of special operation since last autumn, and now he has given orders to adapt them to today's realities and submit them to him by February 1 ...".

It is obvious that the sharply voiced "love" of various Russian officials towards Georgia appeared "on command from a centre", and it was not unexpected and not for nothing. And the price for this "love" is loss of Georgian statehood and freedom!

Giorgi Mazniashvili