On 20 May, the media centre of the de-facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs of separatist Abkhazia claimed that the Georgian government, at the suggestion of Western advisers, has been discrediting the state authorities of separatist Abkhazia and provoking conflicts between them using social media. 

“In addition, among anonymous accounts on social networks, there is a tendency to oppose statesmen to each other, criticise some and praise others. Such activity is provocative. This practice is aimed at exerting a negative impact on the work of the state authorities of Abkhazia, reducing the effectiveness of interdepartmental interaction,” the report says.

The media centre stated the importance of "checking any information published on the network" and called for relying on reliable and verified sources of information.

In early May, Denis Gonchar, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Fourth Department for CIS Countries, discussed Moscow's support for Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia regions, as well as the postponement of the Geneva International Discussions. Overall, the situation between separatist Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's de-facto separating lines with the rest of Georgia is very steady, according to the Russian official. "We've also noticed a decrease in the number of incidents and offensive utterances.” The next stage, according to Gonchar, should be resuming the Gali IPRM conference between Tbilisi and Sukhumi delegates, which has been halted since 2018 due to Tbilisi's Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili list. Gonchar also mentioned Russia's backing for the seized Abkhazia and South Ossetia territories in the context of international sanctions placed on Russia. According to the official, Russian limits on international economic activity and export prohibitions on certain commodities do not apply to Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, despite their pleas.

Read also: For Abkhazia and South Ossetia Security with Russia Equals Economic Troubles