Russia to start humanitarian supplies of electricity to breakaway Georgian region

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will start humanitarian supplies of electricity to Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian region backed by Moscow, from Monday, Russian news agencies quoted local officials as saying.

Electricity shortages, common in Abkhazia in the winter months, began in early December when low water levels at the Enguri hydroelectric dam forced an emergency shutdown.

The region appealed to Russia for assistance, saying it was facing a “humanitarian catastrophe” due to a critical shortage of power.

“In response to Abkhazia’s appeal, the Russian leadership has once again extended a helping hand to us and is starting to carry out a humanitarian transfer of electricity to the republic,” Interfax news agency cited Badra Gunba, Abkhazia’s self-styled president, as saying on Sunday.

Shutdowns will be cut to four hours a day, the Abkhazian state energy company Chernomorenergo said, instead of the 9-11 hours the region is facing now.

Abkhazia borders Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. Russia’s Energy Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Russian electricity export operator InterRAO declined to comment.

Abkhazia broke from Georgia’s control in a war after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, during which hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians fled the region.

Moscow has long supported it and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, and recognised them as independent after winning a five-day war against Georgia in 2008.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)