Georgia treats presence of Russian frontier guards in Abkhazia's waters as piracy

Giorgiy Bokuchava, head of the transport administration of Georgia, making his comments today on the statements that Russian frontier guards will defend ships sailing to Abkhazia, has treated such actions as piracy.

Let us remind you that Zurab Marganiya, head of the frontier detachment of the State Security Service of Abkhazia, said on August 28 that the Abkhazia's agreement with the Russian Federation on joint protection of the state border assumes joint actions to ensure safety in the territorial waters of the republic.

"These are territorial waters of Georgia, and any presence of any boats of the coastal guard of another country in these waters will be illegal," Mr Bokuchava believes. He has emphasized that all foreign ships planning to visit Abkhazia should receive prior permits from the authorities of Georgia, the "Interfax" reports.

Earlier, the actions of the Russian party were labelled as piracy by Temur Yakobashvili, Georgia's Minister on Reintegration Matters. According to his story, Georgia finds Abkhazia a part of its territory, and, consequently, sees delivery of cargoes to Abkhazia by sea without Tbilisi's permit to be a violation of the law," the "Georgia Today" reports.