Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia on August 8 and assured it of Moscow’s military support, an act of defiance to Western governments that have condemned Russia’s backing for the separatists.
Abkhazia and another Georgian region, South Ossetia, threw off Tbilisi’s control in fighting in the early 1990s. Putin has stepped up military, economic and political support for the separatist regions in the past few years.
