Renewal of blockade threatens Adjaria

If Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze does not let presidential representatives control the custom house in Sarpi and the port of Batumi in the next two days, sanctions will be imposed on the autonomous republic once again, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili declared on Monday, March 22. "Everyone already understands that we're not joking," Mikhail Saakashvili said.

As expected, the escalation of tensions between Batumi and Tbilisi has not eased. The control of the customs services in Sarpi, on the Turkish border, and in the port of Batumi by the presidential representatives was agreed at a meeting in Batumi between Abashidze and Saakashvili, but Abashidze later announced that in the absence of any discussion with him regarding the candidacies of these representatives, the control would not be granted.

According to Abashidze, one of Saakashvili's proposed representatives has a criminal record. In addition, he has demanded that joint control of customs services be maintained on the Georgian-Turkish border in Vale (South Georgia) and in the port of Poti.

The Adjarian leader believes that in those places, at least 80% of the goods crossing the frontier are not controlled by customs officers, as a result of which the Georgian central budget incurs heavy losses. Abashidze has in turn threatened to delay the lifting of the state of emergency in Adjaria.