Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of February 3-9, 2025

Presidential election in Abkhazia, pollution in Anapa, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, drone attacks, and official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of February 3-9, 2025, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Presidential election in Abkhazia

In November 2024, protests against the investment agreement with Russia began in Abkhazia. As a result, President Aslan Bzhaniya resigned and left Abkhazia. After negotiations between the government and the opposition, the duties of the president were temporarily assigned to Vice President Badra Gunba. The Parliament of Abkhazia scheduled an early presidential election for February 15.

On February 3, the Public Chamber of Abkhazia requested members of the parliament to amend Articles 16 and 19 of the Law “On election of the President of the Republic of Abkhazia” by excluding the line “Against all candidates” from a re-voting ballot blank. In its request, the Public Chamber of Abkhazia notes that Article 19 of the above-mentioned Law, which regulates the counting of votes in the second round of elections, can be interpreted differently and that “may lead to an escalation of tensions in society.”

On February 5, Badra Gunba called on his rivals not to stir up confrontation and suggested that presidential candidates in Abkhazia should sign an agreement recognizing the election results. Opposition candidate Adgur Ardzinba announced that his supporters will recognize the people’s choice.

On February 6, 2025, the opposition candidate Adgur Ardzinba’s headquarters claimed that Badra Gunba was using meetings with Russian officials as his PR step, although he had no right to represent the people of Abkhazia during the election campaign. Adgur Ardzinba considered the Badra Gunba’s actions unacceptable. The opposition candidate’s headquarters called on the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Abkhazia to respond to unfair competition. After that, Badra Gunba became a passenger on a test flight from Moscow to the Sukhumi airport, which had been banned from accepting passenger flights since the end of the Georgian-Abkhazian war in 1993.

Pollution in Anapa

On December 15, two tankers crashed in the Kerch Strait because of a storm, resulting in an oil spill. On December 18, it became known that about 50 kilometres of beaches from Anapa to Temryuk were polluted with fuel oil, and volunteers organized the rescue of birds stained with oil products.

By February 1, almost 177,000 tons of sand contaminated with fuel oil had been removed from the beaches of Anapa and the Temryuk District. On February 7, repeated fuel oil spill was discovered in four areas of the coast in Anapa.

On February 1, Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, the scientific director of the Institute of Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), reported that after laboratory testing of sand samples collected from the beaches in Anapa, scientists discovered that the concentration of benzopyrene in the sand was 22.5 times higher than the safety standard. The beaches in Anapa should be closed to volunteers and vacationers because of the high concentration of benzopyrene in fuel oil, and the contaminated sand should be taken to landfills for extremely hazardous waste, environmentalists suggest.

Persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia

In Volgograd, a court fined Alexander Gureev, a 33-year-old local resident, recognizing that his comment on the Internet discredited the Russian Armed Forces. The Volgograd resident fully admitted his guilt and expressed his remorse, so the court sentenced the defendant to the minimum fine of 30,000 roubles.

In Vladikavkaz, the City Court fined Arthur Makoev 50,000 roubles, recognizing that his comment on a social networking service criticizing the militaries discredited the Russian Armed Forces. The comment was discovered by law enforcers when they were monitoring social networking services.

Activist Marina Melikhova, who had earlier been fined for her pacifist poem, complained about the authorities’ claim to evict her and her children from their house in Adygea. The activist asked for help to defend her house.

Drone attacks

On February 8, in the Slavyansk-on-Kuban District in the Krasnodar Territory, several residential buildings were damaged as a result of falling fragments of a downed drone. On February 5, a fire broke out in the village of Novominskaya after a drone attack.

On February 9, three drones were shot down in the Rostov Region near the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky. As a result of the drone attack on February 8, fourteen apartment buildings in the Pervomaysky District were damaged. On February 6, drones attacked Primorsko-Akhtarsk in the Rostov Region. On February 3, 27 drones were neutralized over the region’s territory.

In the Volgograd Region, fragments of a downed drone fell on the territory of an oil refinery in the Kumylzhensky District. There were no damages to residential buildings or casualties, the regional administration reported on its Telegram channel on February 8. On the night of February 3, a drone attack on Volgograd lasted about two hours and alarmed residents of the city. Some of them are thinking about leaving Volgograd.

On February 6, the Russian air defence forces repelled a drone attack in the north of the Astrakhan Region. The region was also attacked by drones on February 3. On that day, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) attacked fuel and energy facilities, a fire broke out at a “Gazprom” gas processing plant, and the plant’s operations were suspended.

Official data on natives of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine

By February 9, the authorities and the law enforcement bodies reported about at least 5822 residents of Southern Russia perished in Ukraine, including 2819 residents of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and 3003 residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD).

In Dagestan, the authorities reported about 1232 local residents perished in Ukraine, in the Volgograd Region – 1104, in the Krasnodar Territory – 663, in the Rostov Region – 618, in the Stavropol Territory – 583, in the Astrakhan Region – 441, in North Ossetia – 346, in Chechnya – 227, in Kabardino-Balkaria – 225, in Ingushetia – 112, in Kalmykia – 108, in Karachay-Cherkessia – 94, and in Adygea – 69.