Lawmakers from several Turkish political parties have jointly called on the government to establish direct transport links between Turkey and Abkhazia and to recognize Abkhaz passports as valid travel documents. According to the Turkish newspaper Jineps Gazetesi, this is the first time such demands have been publicly voiced at the interparty parliamentary level.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry has called on Moscow to comply with the terms of the August 12, 2008 ceasefire agreement, withdraw its troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and ensure the return of people displaced by the conflict, as Georgia marks the 18th anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war.
In a statement, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said Russia continues its “illegal occupation” of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia), which Tbilisi considers integral parts of Georgian territory.

The Supreme Court of Russia’s Republic of Ingushetia has sentenced 31-year-old Akromat Dourbekov to two years in a penal colony for a comment he posted on VKontakte in which an expert assessment found approval of violence committed by Adolf Hitler against Jews. The court also ordered that the mobile phone used to post the comment be transferred to state ownership.

Authorities in Russia’s Chechnya have allocated an additional 505 million rubles from the regional budget to provide payments to residents affected by devastating floods. The federal government has also allocated 320.7 million rubles to support agricultural producers who suffered losses. Recovery efforts following the spring floods have now continued for more than four months.