Inal Ardzinba, relative of 1st de facto president, appointed FM of occupied Abkhazia

Inal Ardzinba, 31, who has served as a state councilor of Russia and a chairman of the Council for Youth Affairs under the Patriarch of Russia, has been appointed as a foreign minister of Georgia’’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region. Born in the main city of Abkhazia, Sokhumi, Inal Ardzinba is a relative of the first president of the de facto region Vladislav Ardzinba.

De facto Abkhaz president Aslan Bzhania has already signed a decree for the appointment. 

Ardzinba will replace  Daur Kove in the role, who was allegedly appointed to another post. 

Kove has served as de facto FM since 2016 and was appointed by previous de facto president Raul Khajimba. 

Earlier Inal Ardzinma was an employee of the Presidential Administration of Russia. 

Between 2014-2018 he worked in the department for social and economic cooperation with the CIS countries, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In the department he was in charge of Ukraine. In 2018, he became a chairman of the Public Council for Youth Affairs, created under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. 

In January of last year, Ardzinba announced the possible creation of a new party in Abkhazia. 

However, later he said that he had no plans to become a ‘president.’