Russia–Abkhazia ferry link restored

A ferry route from Russia to an Abkhazian resort town was restored yesterday when a 189-seat hydrofoil made the first sea trip for tourists to the breakaway region in nearly 16 years.

30 tourists, a handful of journalists and representatives of the operating company were onboard the maiden voyage from Russia’s Sochi to the nearby Abkhazian town of Gagra, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant.

The boat will make the 45-minute trip from Sochi to Gagra four times a day. The operator, Olymp-line, said tickets go for 800 to 1200 rubles (USD35–50).

“Despite this [low] price we hope that this new line will be profitable,” a company representative told Russian reporters, noting that several tourist companies pre-booked tickets.

Georgian officials are protesting what they say is an illegal ferry connection.

“All sea ports of the Abkhazian region have been closed after the [1990s separatist] conflict; no country can conduct regular trips there. We are going to protest to the International Marine Organization and request that it conduct sanctions against vessels operating in this region,” Irakli Taktakishvili, head of the Georgian Transport Administration told local journalists.

High tensions and a spate of bombings may also dissuade Russian tourists from making the trip.

Two days before the launch of the ferry line, a pair of bomb blasts went off in Gagra, the line’s destination; another two explosions hit a central market in the de facto capital Sokhumi the next day. Abkhaz media reports said there was a total of 13 injured in the bombings.

Abkhaz separatist officials accused Georgia of plotting the attacks in an attempt to derail the region’s tourist season.

“Ever year Georgia special services try to spoil the tourist season in Abkhazia” the de facto Abkhaz foreign minister Sergey Shamba told Russian news media.

The Abkhaz de facto government unilaterally closed off the administrative border with Georgia yesterday to “ensure the safety of both the local population and tourists,” according to the region’s de facto deputy foreign minister.

Representatives of the Olymp-line company told reporters they did not expect the bombings to hurt business on their new route.

In the past few months Moscow has moved to legitimize and bolster business and transport ties with breakaway Abkhazia, by withdrawing from sanctions on the self-declared republic, dispatching military engineers to repair Abkhazia’s railways and inking agreements include Abkhaz businesses in construction for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Georgia’s government has protested every step, accusing Moscow of propping up the separatist administration in Abkhazia with the intent of annexing the entire territory.