The "legendary" separatist marauder, "hero of Donbass", great lover of "Artsakh" Hayevs, with whom he wanted to populate his native Abkhazia, commander of the "Pyatnashka" inter-brigade and one of the "founding fathers" of the Armenian "Arbat" battalion, Akhra Avidzba, suddenly disappeared. He disappeared from social networks, propaganda channels and war correspondents' reports. Recently, however, information has emerged that this "hero" is not really a "hero", but a deserter. A criminal case has been opened against him for disobeying orders and leaving the military unit to which he was sent without permission.

The BRIEF telegram channel reported that the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation had opened a criminal case against the commander of the "Pyatnashka" battalion, Akhra Avidzba (call sign "Abkhaz"), for "disobeying the order of his superior... in time of war" and "refusing to take part in combat operations". A decision on the opening of a criminal case and its acceptance for trial was published online. The document was allegedly issued on 29 December 2023.

According to the decision, Avidzba was transferred to a new, "equal position" as deputy commander of a rifle battalion in military unit 52892, but he did not arrive on the appointed date, arguing that the order was "illegal". According to the document, his actions "caused considerable damage to the interests of the service".

It is not known where Akhra Avidzba is now. By all accounts, he has gone 'on the run'. He cannot return to his native Abkhazia because he had a falling-out with separatist leaders and spent some time in prison. Perhaps his Hay "friends" are still helping him to hide somewhere, but then he will not be enviable, for they know how to give, sell and transfer - the only question is "the price".

How the fate of Akhra Avidzba is developing, as he quickly turns from a "legendary hero" into a deserter "on the run", eloquently shows what awaits those Abkhazians who "believed Russia", or more precisely, the KGB-FSB and Hay lobby. They are quickly transformed from "heroic freedom-loving people" into "idlers and parasites" who "for some reason occupy land near the Black Sea" that "appealed" to those who once ignited Abkhazian separatism.

Why did Akhra Avidzba fall into the "disfavour" of the Kremlin's "masters"? He dared to oppose Pitsunda's transfer to the Kremlin. Commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands for Pitsunda, he spoke in a tone that insulted the Kremlin leader: "One man has 1/6 of the country, and we should give him 200 hectares of land in Abkhazia?

It was in the autumn of last year that Akhra Avidzba, as commander of the "Pyatnashka" brigade and "Hero of the DNR", and fighters from his unit came to Abkhazia to take part in the celebrations of the so-called "Day of Victory" over Georgia in 1993. At the time, he said that before leaving he had discussed with his fighters, who were natives of Abkhazia, the issue of transferring part of the territory of Pitsunda to the Russian Federation, and they were all unanimously against it.

"Not only Abkhazians, we have ethnic Armenians, ethnic Russians who are from Abkhazia, and Greeks. We gathered them all from their positions at one moment in our base and we discussed this issue. The unanimous opinion was that we should not give anything to anyone. Because there are many services in Russia, we will not be able to please everyone. There are 250,000 civil servants for the 10 million inhabitants of the Russian Federation; how many can we please if the population is 150 million? There will be no country left for us.

Another question: if we say today that the world is in turmoil and Abkhazia is part of it, that everyone is interested in us, that the world cannot exist without us, let us ask a simple question: are we interesting or our land? Will anyone be interested in us without our country?Will we be able to participate anywhere without soil under our feet, without our ancestral lands that we have given away?

Akhra Avidzba challenged the argument of those who support the transfer of the Pitsunda State House that the land will not be sold and no one will take the buildings away. Even now, the puppet so-called "President of Abkhazia" cannot enter the territory of this building with his guards, and if he does enter, he is forced to leave it behind a fence.

"If he can't go where he wants with his security on his own land, what are we talking about? What if officially it's just buildings? Can't we be honest with each other? I was most moved when we began to visit the graves of our fighters, and in the village I heard a woman, far removed from politics and of advanced age, say that Vladimir Vladimirovich should be given this land as a gift. One man has one sixth of the land mass, and we should give him 200 hectares of land in Abkhazia.

Such insolence and an attempt at "the master's good" (not only Pitsunda, but the whole of Abkhazia is already considered "theirs" by the Kremlin leaders) was not forgiven by the "serf". Obviously, they decided to make a "hero" of him, as they did of other separatist leaders of Donbass (Motorov, Givi and Zakharchenko). The easiest way to do this was to organise his death at the hands of "Bandera men" or "at the front".

Akhra Avidzba understood this and decided not to become a "posthumous hero". He had a lot of looted goods and money; he had certain connections, so he might have been able to defect first and "disappear" from the sight of his masters and handlers. 

But what will happen after that? Moreover, it is highly likely that Akhra Avidzba will not be able to stay outside the Russian Federation "legally.". He will be arrested and extradited to almost any country in the world, but not to the Russian Federation, but to Ukraine, where he will be tried for crimes committed in Donbass. Hiding somewhere illegally is unlikely to work for long either; the Russian security services have long arms, so if there is a desire to find and kill the former "hero,"  they will be able to do it.

And in the light of Akhra Avidzba's fate, Abkhazians should also consider what will happen to their people under conditions of separatism and occupation. As "heroes," they are only needed as "cannon fodder.". And their "masters" do not need them as residents of their native Abkhazia. Occupiers and Hay settlers need Abkhazian land and Abkhazian resorts, but not Abkhazians themselves.

As a result, the same "masters" can put the people of Abkhazia in a dilemma: either "heroically exterminate themselves" in another military adventure or in Ukraine, or "go on the run,"  i.e., leave their homeland. In any case, both the Kremlin and the Hay lobby need Abkhazia without the Abkhazians.

There is only one nation that needs Abkhazians in Abkhazia, in their homeland. It is their brothers, the Georgians. Reconciliation with the Georgians and living together in a single state - Georgia, where Abkhazia has all the constitutional rights of autonomy and the Abkhazian language has the status of a state language - is the only chance for the Abkhazian people to survive and live in their homeland.

George Kvinitadze