For information on the political status of Abkhazia, please consult the fifth to last paragraph of the second page of the 17 December 1996 Reuters attachment and the other attachments.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

ITAR-TASS [Moscow, in English]. 4 February 1997. Valeriy Sevryukov. "Russia: Moscow Backs UN Security Council Resolution on Georgia." (FBIS-SOV-97-024 4 Feb. 1997) [Internet] [Accessed 7 Mar. 1997]

Reuters. 17 December 1996. BC Cycle. Lawrence Sheets. "Abkhazia's Space Monkeys Caught in Conflict Zone." (NEXIS)

_____. 21 November 1996. BC Cycle. Lawrence Sheets. "Rebel Caucasus Regions Seek Legitimacy Via Polls." (NEXIS)

Tbilisi Contact Information Agency [Tbilisi, in Georgian]. 20 February 1997. "Georgia: Abkhaz Separatist Leader Demands Equal Status with Georgia." (FBIS-SOV-97-035 20 Feb. 1997) [Internet] [Accessed 7 Mar. 1997]

Transition: Events and Issues in the Former Soviet Union and East-Central and Southeastern Europe [Prague]. 9 August 1996. Vol. 2, No. 16. Penny Morvant and Elizabeth Fuller. "Shevardnadze Threatens Abkhaz Separatists," p. 61.