Abkhazian journalists state tighter control over Russian financial aid

At the background of poor quality of republic's investment projects and misuse of allocated funds, the Russian party has tightened the terms of granting financial aid to Abkhazia, said Abkhazian journalists Izida Chaniya and Anton Krivenyuk.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in April 2015, Alexander Khloponin, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government, said that until 2017 Russia would allocate 9 billion roubles to Abkhazia.

Izida Chaniya, the editor of the "Nuzhnaya Gazeta" (Wanted Newspaper), believes that the reduction of the volume of Russia's financial aid "was caused by problems in Russian economy, changes of the terms of fund allocation, and misappropriation thereof in Abkhazia."

She also noted that the misuse of Russian aid has been revealed by the Control and Accounts Chamber of Abkhazia, which has selectively audited some objects, built for Russian money in 2010-2014. According to Ms Chaniya, violations "were revealed in the amount of 1.080 billion roubles."

At the expense of the republic's budget "virtually all social facilities are now being completed," Izida Chaniya has stated.

In his turn, Konstantin Zatulin, a Russian State Duma MP and the head of the CIS Institute, has linked the reduction of the volume of financial aid to Abkhazia, "with a difficult financial situation in Russia."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.