Alexander Ankvab became the third Abkhaz president on 26 August 2011, winning almost 55% of the votes cast. Both of his rivals, Sergey Shamba and Raul Khadjimba – got approximately 20% of the votes cast. The Central Electoral Committee recognized the elections as fair and democratic. The Russian president congratulated his new Abkhaz counterpart almost right away, even officially Russia denied any interference in the Abkhaz polls and claimed to be ready to accept any choice the Abkhaz people would make. Right now all the experts are preoccupied with suggesting a possible future for Abkhazia under the new president. In order to better understand all the possibilities we should closely look into the past career of the new Abkhaz leader, as well as into his post-election statements.
Alexander Ankvab was born in 1952 in the Abkhaz capital of Sukhumi, graduating from the law faculty of Rostov State University when he was 22. He worked as an official of the Komsomol for many years, as well as serving as an official in the Justice Ministry of the Abkhaz ASSR in 1975-1981.
Ankvab moved to Tbilisi and joined the executive of the central committee of the Georgian Communist Party in 1981.When he was 30, Ankvab became the youngest colonel of the Georgian police and headed the Political Surveillance Department of the Georgian SSR Interior Ministry.
At the age of 34, Alexander graduated from the Social Sciences Academy under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In another 4 years he became a member of the Abkhaz ASSR parliament. So, when the Abkhaz-Georgian conflict broke out, Alexander Ankvab, a 40-year-old colonel with wide connections in Tbilisi, found himself on the Abkhazian side of the front.
The conflict between Tbilisi and Sukhumi proved to be the bloodiest in post-Soviet space, as it took the lives of thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands to leave their homes and become refugees. In this troubled period Ankvab headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia. This post obliged him to deal with the Georgian side and he used his connections to negotiate successful prisoner exchanges, thus saving many lives. Tbilisi officials respected Ankvab, as he was one of the few politicians how actually tried to stop the bloodshed. His contacts with Georgian side, however, had a negative influence on his pre-election campaign in 2011, as well as in 2004 when he supported the candidature of Sergey Bagapsh.
Ankvab was accused of undermining the fighting efficiency of the Abkhaz army, but the evidence is too vague to validate this claim. In the circumstances of a civil war it’s sometimes hard to distinguish between a war crime and fulfilling one’s duties. It is obvious that Ankvab has never supported radical separatist ideas. Some say that he had serious disagreements with Vladislav Ardzinba. After the end of the war Ankvab left Abkhazia for Moscow, where he became a democratic opposition figure, as well as a businessman. Some say that this was the action of a pragmatic politician trying to find a solution to the Abkhaz-Georgian conflict acceptable to both sides, others accuse him of allying with forces standing for the reintegration of Abkhazia into Georgia.
In 2000 Ankvab returned to Sukhumi and founded the first Abkhaz opposition party, ‘Rebirth’. He even intended to take part in the 2004 elections, but failed to pass some formal criteria. He supported Sergey Bagapsh and, after his victory, became the country’s prime minister. However, at this point his luck seems to have run out: in
2005 he survived two attempts on his life in less than two months, and another two in the summer of 2007. Alexander was injured in the last attack.
In 2009 Ankvab became deputy prime minister, but that didn’t stop the terrorists: his home was attacked again, and the deputy PM was injured. None of these attacks has ever been solved. The Sukhumi authorities always assumed that the attacks had nothing to do with Ankvab’s political activities, but rather were retribution by criminals for his actions as a police officer.
After being elected President, Ankvab made several statements revealing his political program: first of all, he said that one day Abkhazia might turn from a presidential republic to a parliamentary one. Secondly, he invited young talented professionals to join his team, no matter what their political views are. Ankvab also promised
not to allow the sale of Abkhaz land to foreign citizens. He also said that he has no intention to exercise any pressure over independent media: “Over the past few years they’ve told a lot of bogeyman stories about me. They say I don’t like journalists and that I avoid them, but that’s not true and I hope you’ve already noticed that.” Ankvab also promised to continue the policy of partnership and cooperation with Russia. This last claim was also supported by the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev.
Ankvab’s inauguration is scheduled for 26 September.
Ekaterina Tesemnicova, exclusively to VK
