At the beginning of November, fifty opposition parliamentarians from Georgia appealed to NATO and EU member states to express a unified position regarding Russia’s plan to create a permanent naval base in the separatist region of Abkhazia, reports the BBC and news. .ro.

The Kremlin’s plans have sparked fears the base could draw Georgia, which hopes to join the EU, into Russia’s war in Ukraine and undermine Tbilisi’s own plans for a Black Sea port.

“We unanimously and resolutely condemn the occupation, militarization and other actions of Russia aimed at the annexation of the occupied regions of Georgia, which have a new expression in the opening of a permanent Russian naval base in the port of Ochamchire,” the parliamentarians said in a statement. said in the statement.

A few weeks earlier, the de facto leader of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, confirmed the signing of an agreement with the Kremlin on a permanent naval base in the Black Sea port of Ochamchire.

Abkhazia is internationally recognized as part of Georgia, but since 1990 it has been under the control of Russia and separatist forces.

Georgia’s foreign ministry condemned Russia’s plan as a “gross violation of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” although authorities in Tbilisi played down the importance of the permanent naval base, saying it was not an immediate threat.

“Even if they start building a base in Ochamchir, it will take at least three years,” Nikoloz Samkharadze, head of Georgia’s international relations commission, told the BBC. “We are concerned about imminent threats, not threats that may appear in the future,” he said.

He said the government was focusing more on Georgian citizens killed or abducted by Russian forces near the occupation line that separates Georgia from its breakaway territories of Abkhazia and Ossetia.

“We do not see any movement regarding the start of construction in Ochamchir,” he said.

BBC Newsnight and Verify have analyzed satellite images showing new dredging and construction work at the port following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

According to the Abkhazian administration, the dredging works mean that Ochamchire can now accommodate larger cargo vessels of up to 13,000 tonnes.

The special service of Ukraine says that work is underway to ensure that warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet can use Ochamchir as a shelter.

If Russia were to use Ochamchir to attack Ukraine, or if Ukraine decided to target ships there, Georgia would become part of the war, says Natia Seskuria of the Royal Joint Services Institute.

“If Putin wants Georgia to be involved or somehow involved in this war, he will do it if it’s in his interests, and unfortunately, he has every opportunity to put pressure on Georgia,” she said.

Not only does this heighten Georgia’s fears of being drawn into the war, but there are fears it could affect Tbilisi’s own plans for a mega-infrastructure project on the Black Sea coast.

The port in Anaklia is the closest Georgian city to Russian-controlled Abkhazia.

The Anaklia project is considered vital to boost trade in the so-called Middle Corridor, the fastest shipping route between Asia and Europe.

The route avoids using Russia as an overland intermediary, and the World Bank estimates it could halve travel time and triple trade by 2030.

The Kremlin opposed this project for a long time, as the United States and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that American military submarines would be able to dock there.

But although the majority of Georgia’s population is pro-European, the government has a difficult relationship with Moscow.

In 2020, the Georgian government canceled the contract for the construction of the port, signed by a consortium with the support of Western banks and investors.

Mamuka Khazaradze, who headed the original Anaklia Development Consortium, said the Tbilisi government was undermining the port’s development to appease Moscow.

“The biggest problem we have with this government is that it is serving Russia’s interests because it is not in Russia’s interests for (the port of) Anaklia to be built,” he said. He noted that the proof is the Russian base built just 30 kilometers above the Black Sea coast.

His consortium appealed to international arbitration with the Georgian government.

“We dug up 5 million cubic meters of sand, 11 meters deep. We laid 3,500 kilometers of pipelines,” said Khazaradze, who heads the opposition Lelo party.

The Georgian government insists that plans for the deep-sea port will be revived and the winner of the tender will be announced soon.

Nikoloz Samkharadze, who heads the parliament’s foreign relations committee, called accusations that his government is pro-Russian “absurd.”

“How can a pro-Russian government sign an association agreement with the European Union, get a visa-free regime with the European Union and the status of a candidate for the European Union,” said Samkharadze.

But, according to him, Tbilisi must tread carefully in relation to its neighbor from the north.

“We have had three wars with Russia over the past 30 years. We do not have a NATO security umbrella. We do not have the economic solidarity of the European Union,” he explained.

He suggested that Russia was using Ochamchir to threaten Georgia over its bid to join the EU.

A final decision on Georgia’s application for EU candidate status is expected from European leaders at this week’s December summit.

“The Russians … always use the best moment to undermine, firstly, Georgia’s stability, and secondly, Georgia’s path to European integration,” he said.

“They are trying to convey to our European and American partners that they are the masters of the South Caucasus and can do whatever they want,” he said.