Soon after the parliamentary election in 2012 Georgia’s new government declared its willingness to reconstruct and reopen the former railway communication link with Russia through Abkhazia, which was interrupted as a result of the Georgian–Abkhaz war in 1993. With its confidence-building character, the initiative is part of a broader Georgian foreign policy strategy aimed at re-establishing political and economic relations with Russia, a development that would represent a significant geopolitical challenge for the countries of the South Caucasus. The initiative will test Tbilisi’s ability to prevent any changes to Abkhazia’s current political status and to keep the project purely economic in nature.
Mikhelidze, Nona (2013) Opening the Russian–Georgian railway link through Abkhazia, CORE Policy Brief, 5. Oslo: PRIO.
