November 20, 2006

Abstract: - Adults in Russia are split on the way their government should approach the situation in one of Georgia's breakaway republics, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 39 per cent of respondents would allow Abkhazia to become a member of the Russian federation, while 19 per cent favour recognizing the area as an independent nation.

- Adults in Russia are split on the way their government should approach the situation in one of Georgia's breakaway republics, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 39 per cent of respondents would allow Abkhazia to become a member of the Russian federation, while 19 per cent favour recognizing the area as an independent nation.

Conversely, 24 per cent of respondents think Russia should take no action, while five per cent want Russia to contribute to allow Abkhazia to remain as part of Georgia.

Georgia was the site of political instability in the last weeks of 2003, after the Georgian Supreme Court partially annulled the results of a parliamentary election. The ensuing crisis led to the resignation of president Eduard Shevardnadze after opposition politicians requested his dismissal over electoral fraud. The country chose former justice minister Mikhail Saakashvili as the new head of state in January 2004.

Following his election, Saakashvili promised to re-gain control over all breakaway Georgian provinces. In May 2004, Georgia forced local ruler Aslan Abashidze out of the Adzhara region. The territorial disputes continue in South Ossetia—which seceded from Georgia in the early 1990s after a civil war—and Abkhazia.

On Oct. 18, the Abkhazian parliament approved a resolution, which calls upon the international community to recognize Abkhazian independence. The document reads: "The 13-year postwar period has confirmed the viability of the de-facto independent state of Abkhazia, and the only thing that has to be done now is confirm and legitimize this sovereignty, just like it was done in relation to other countries in a similar situation."

Earlier this month, Saakashvili warned against granting independence to Abkhazia, saying, "Any kind of courting of this idea that one can dismember a small, multiethnic country like Georgia is just irresponsible. Anybody who would even play with this idea would be playing with fire."

Polling Data

How should the Russian government act on the question of Abkhazia?

Allowing it to become a member of the Russian Federation	39%
Officially recognizing Abkhazia as an independent nation	19%
Contribute to allow Abkhazia to remain as a part of Georgia	5%
Take no action, let Abkhazia and Georgia settle the issue	24%
Hard to answer	13%

Source: All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,592 Russian adults, conducted on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29, 2006. Margin of error is 3.4 per cent.