Paradise
The magnolia flower is flawless. Refined and austere, snow-white and modest - without the bright multicolor characteristic of the subtropics, full of purity and dignity. Such a flower is only worthy of a bride. Abkhazian bride, of course! Do you know the Abkhaz wedding - when a thousand relatives and neighbors gather !? When half of the city gets up: who puts firewood under huge boilers, who cuts bulls, who builds tables and tents - a knock, a roar, a crash. And then a holiday, a feast, and all the men in turn from the one-liter drinking horn - for a new family, for new lives! For the harvest, for the vine! For the ancestor mountains, visible from everywhere in Abkhazia! Pour it: here is 'Psou' - white semi-sweet, you don't have to eat, although the grape churchkhela is on a plate nearby; but 'Chegem' is red and so dry, only under its fragrant juicy shish kebab. Here in the glass sparkles with purple highlights 'Amra' (in Abkhaz - the sun), and when the drinking songs sound, all other sounds will subside. Luxurious thickets of magnolia, tall eucalyptus bunnies, chic spreading palms, twisted cheeky lianas, ready to burst right into the house, will listen to the friendly Caucasian polyphony. After all, Abkhazia is Apsny in Abkhazian, the country of the soul. The country that God left for himself, distributing all the lands to different tribes and nations. And when the late Abkhazians appeared, God did not even ask them - where were they? Of course, the guests were welcomed again. I had to give them this blessed land, and go to heavenly distances myself. Snoopy mountain rivers, noisy like Abkhaz weddings, spurt right into the sea, but immediately subside, tamed by the immortal power of the world's oceans. And unusual people live here. Traditions, laws of ancestors are sacredly honored. Proud, strong, intolerant of injustice. Next to the Abkhaz are their good neighbors, Georgians. For centuries they lived side by side, shoulder to shoulder fought off the Romans, Arabs, Turks. They loved the same dishes. Corn porridge - hominy; stewed beans - in Georgian 'lobio', and in Abkhazian - 'akud'; khachapur and khachapuri, satsivi and achapu. And in hospitality, will a Georgian give in to an Abkhaz ?! Millions of vacationers from the Soviet Union fell in love with the magnificent Abkhazia, and came there again and again: to Ritsa, to waterfalls, to the New Athos Monastery, languid Gagra, fragrant boxwood Pitsunda with its purest water off the coast, and, of course, Sukhum. However, Sukhum is Abkhazian. In Georgian it will be Sukhumi.
Plague
On August 14, 1992, when the midday heat reached its peak, a helicopter appeared over the beaches of Sukhumi, motley with relaxed tourists. People began to turn their heads in his direction, and first saw the lights flickering at the hull of the rotorcraft. Only a moment later a hail of lead hit them. And from the east, the roar of tanks bursting into the serene city was already heard. These were units of the so-called "guard" of the State Council of Georgia, as well as detachments of thousands of armed volunteers, thoroughly saturated with a nationalist and criminal spirit, under the command of "godfathers" Tengiz Kitovani and Jaba Ioseliani. Under the general leadership of the President of Georgia Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze. In what follows, the author will refer to them as "Georgian forces." It can be shorter - 'guards'.
S. B. Zantaria testifies (Sukhum, Frunze str., 36-27):
- The soldiers of the State Council broke down the door and entered, ostensibly to seize weapons. At that time I had my sister Vasilisa and ex-husband Ustyan V. A. They began to demand money, to insult. Having drunk alcohol, they robbed the apartment, took away the sister and Ustyan V. A. The sister was bullied and raped, Ustyan was beaten, then killed. They robbed everyone, took them indiscriminately, caught girls and women, raped … What they did is impossible to convey …
L. Sh. Aiba testifies (city of Sukhum, Dzhikia str., 32):
- At night, my neighbor Dzhemal Rekhviashvili called me out into the street, saying: 'Don't be afraid, I'm your neighbor, go out.' As soon as I got out, they hit me on the head, then they dragged me into the house and began to search me. Everything in the house was turned over and all valuables were taken away. Then they took me to the depot area, where they beat me between the cars, demanded a machine gun and three million money … Then they went to the police, where they said that they had found a grenade on me and showed me one of their grenades. Then they put me in a cell. They periodically tortured me with electric current and beat me. Once a day we were given a bowl of food, and they often spat in front of us in this bowl. When the Georgians had setbacks at the front, they burst into the cell and beat everyone sitting in it …
Testimony of Z. Kh. Nachkebia (Sukhum):
- 5 'guards' came, one of them put my grandson Ruslan against the wall and said that he had come to kill. Another approached my two-year-old granddaughter Lada Jopua, who was lying in the bed, and put a knife to her throat. The girl said to herself: 'Lyada, don't cry, good uncle, he won't kill you.' Ruslan's mother, Sveta, began to beg not to kill her son, saying: 'I cannot bear his death.' One 'guardsman' said: 'Hang yourself, then we won't kill our son.' The neighbors came, and Ruslana's mother ran out of the room. Soon they went to look for her and found her in the basement. She was hanging on a rope and was already dead. The 'Guards', seeing this, said: 'Bury her today, and tomorrow we will come to kill you.'
B. A. Inapha testifies:
- The 'Guards' hit me, tied me up, took me to the river, took me into the water and started shooting next to me and asking questions about what kind of weapons the Abkhaz have. Then they began to demand 3 million. After the beating, I lost consciousness. I woke up in a room. When they found an iron, they undressed me and started torturing me with a hot iron. They scoffed until the morning, in the morning their shift came, which again began to beat me and demand a million. Then they took me out into the yard, handcuffed me, began to slaughter chickens and inject with morphine. In the evening of the same day, I was able to escape, got to the Armenians, who treated my wounds, cut the handcuffs, fed me, gave me an overnight stay and showed the way to the city in the morning.
There is no one to speak Abkhaz in the city of Ochamchira. They can kill only for speech. The bodies of Abkhazians with traces of terrible torture, with separated body parts, are brought to the district hospital. There have been cases of scalp and skin removal from living people. Hundreds of people have been tortured and brutally killed by fanatics from the Babu gang, whose leader is shown on Georgian television in a white burka as a national hero. During the 8 months of the war, the number of Abkhazians living in Ochamchira decreased from 7 thousand to about 100 old men and women exhausted by torture and abuse. To shift the burden of the war onto the Georgian population of Abkhazia, Tbilisi "ideologists" ordered the distribution of weapons to local Georgians. And a certain part of the Georgians began to kill their neighbors, but many, risking their lives, hid the families of the Abkhaz, and then helped them escape. About 30% of the Georgian population of the Ochamchira region left Abkhazia in order not to take part in the extermination of the Abkhazians.
Testimony of V. K. Dopua (village Adzyubzha):
- On October 6, the "guards" together with local Georgians entered the village. Everyone who was found in the houses was driven away. The adults were lined up in front of the tank, the children were put on the tank and everyone was led in the direction of Dranda. Dopua Juliet, tied with ropes to the tank, was dragged down the street. So civilians were used as a barrier from the shelling of partisans.
The world practically does not know the names of the Abkhazian village of Tamysh and the Armenian Labra, as well as other villages that were almost completely destroyed by the Georgian forces. After E. Shevardnadze came to power in Georgia, the West declared Georgia a "democratic country", and this was a real indulgence - the forgiveness of all sins. In the West, Eduard Amvrosievich was always listened to carefully and sympathized with his problems. Probably deserved. The "problems" of the inhabitants of Labra and Tamysh were not focused on either in the countries of "civilized democracy" or in Russia. Meanwhile, the entire Caucasus shuddered from eyewitness accounts.
V. E. Minosyan, a resident of the prosperous village of Labra, Ochamchira region, where hardworking Armenians lived, whose ancestors fled from the Turkish genocide of 1915, testifies:
- It was in the afternoon, at three o'clock. They collected several families, about 20 people, and forced them to dig a deep hole. Then the elderly, children and women were forced to go down into this pit, and the men were forced to cover them with earth. When the land was above the belt, the 'guards' said: 'Bring the money, gold, or else we will bury everyone alive.' The whole village gathered, children, old people, women fell to their knees, begging for mercy. It was an eerie picture. Once again, the valuables were collected … only then were the almost distraught people released.
Yeremyan Seisyan, machine operator testifies:
- The village of Labra was completely destroyed, expelled, robbed, tortured all, many killed and raped. One guy named Kesyan was offered to rape his mother. The collective farmer Seda was raped by several people in the presence of her husband, as a result of which the latter went mad. Ustyan Khingal was stripped and forced to dance, while she was stabbed with a knife and fired from machine guns.
The Svans, a nation inhabiting the northeastern regions of Abkhazia and the Kodori Gorge, participated more actively in this violence than others. Georgian tanks, Grads and aircraft eventually razed Labra to the ground, as did the villages of Tamysh, Kindgi, Merkulu, Pakuash, Beslakhu.
Destroyed not only a whole people, destroyed the very memory of it. During the occupation, institutes were plundered, the developments of which were world famous: the Sukhumi Physico-Technical Institute, the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy with its famous monkey. Georgian soldiers let the monkeys out of their cages with the words: "Let them run through the streets and gnaw the Abkhazians." The building of the Abkhazian Institute of Language, Literature and History was plundered and burned, on November 22, 1992, the Abkhaz State Archives were completely destroyed, where 17 thousand storage units were lost only in the funds of the ancient period. Gasoline was poured into the basements of the archive and set on fire; townspeople who tried to extinguish, were driven away by shots. The buildings of the printing house, publishing houses, bases and storage facilities of archaeological expeditions in Sukhum, in the villages of Tamysh and Tsebelda, the Gagra Historical and Archaeological Museum were looted and burned, where unique collections of ancient artifacts were lost. Professor V. Karzhavin, winner of the Lenin and State Prizes, a prisoner of the GULAG, died of hunger in Sukhum.
A bit of history
The Abkhazian kingdom is mentioned in fairly ancient sources no later than the 8th century AD. Passing from one empire to another - Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Russian - the Abkhazians did not lose their national identity. In addition, the conquerors were more interested in the coast, and few people wanted to climb the mountains. But the obstinate nature of the Abkhaz towards the conquerors gave rise to such a tragic phenomenon as 'mahajirism' - the forcible resettlement of the local population from Abkhazia to other places, mainly to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. For many centuries Abkhazians and their neighbors Georgians lived peacefully. However, in the 20th century, a new wave of displacement began, now under Stalin's regime. In the early 30s, Abkhazia, as an autonomous republic, was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Georgian SSR. In 1948, a large number of Greeks, Turks and representatives of other non-indigenous peoples were forcibly resettled from Abkhazia. Georgians began to actively settle in their place. According to the census of 1886, there were 59 thousand Abkhazians in Abkhazia, Georgians - just over 4 thousand; according to 1926: Abkhazians - 56 thousand, Georgians - 67 thousand, according to 1989: Abkhazians - 93 thousand, Georgians - almost 240 thousand.
The collapse of the Soviet Union served as the impetus for the conflict. The Abkhaz Supreme Council, headed by its leader Vladislav Ardzinba, demanded that Tbilisi conclude a federal treaty, following the path that Russia took in building a new federal-type state. This demand caused a wave of indignation among the majority of Georgian politicians of the new era, since they saw Georgia as an exclusively unitary state. Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who came to power in Georgia in 1991, called the country's national minorities nothing more than 'Indo-European pigs' and considered them 'Georgianized'. Gamsakhurdia's adventurous policy in all directions pushed Georgia into the abyss, and then organized crime entered the political arena. Criminal authorities T. Kitovani and D. Ioseliani created their own armed formations (Ioseliani's group was called 'Mkhedrioni' - horsemen), and overthrew Gamsakhurdia. And in his place they put Eduard Shevardnadze. And the former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR agreed. Now the next task was to pacify the excessively "insolent" national outskirts: South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They quickly found a pretext for attacking Abkhazia: supporters of the ousted Zviad Gamsakhurdia settled on the territory of eastern Abkhazia and began to wage a sluggish struggle against the Shevardnadze regime. Among other things, they carried out attacks on trains that took place on the only railway leading to the territory of Georgia from Russia. On August 12, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Abkhazia adopted an appeal to the State Council of Georgia, which contained the following lines:
- The new Treaty between both states, the need for which the Parliament of Abkhazia has been talking about since August 25, 1990, will clearly define both the terms of reference of each of the republics and the competence of their joint bodies … The conclusion of the Union Treaty between Abkhazia and Georgia is a reliable means of overcoming mutual distrust between our peoples …
However, by that time the Georgian side had received the main thing: Russian weapons sufficient to equip a full-fledged division, including heavy weapons, tanks, and a large amount of ammunition. There is every reason to believe that the then President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin not only armed the aggressor, but also gave him a political carte blanche, guaranteeing the non-interference of the Russian military units stationed in Abkhazia and Georgia in the conflict. And on August 14, 1992, a Georgian column of armored vehicles, hung with bunches of criminals Kitovani and Ioseliani, armed to the teeth, with the support of aviation (Su-25 and Mi-24) moved to Abkhazia.
War
Georgian forces immediately captured a significant territory of Abkhazia, but could not break through further than Sukhum. On the Gumista River, which serves as the western border of Sukhum, Abkhaz forces delayed the advance of the aggressor; a few machine guns, hunting rifles, rubble were used. Craftsmen made hand bombs and land mines, filling various metal cylinders with industrial rubber. Someone came up with the idea to fill the 'guards' with a liquid designed to destroy the pests of tangerines. Hot Abkhaz guys on the move jumped onto enemy armored vehicles, blinded the observation devices with their capes, destroyed the crew and shouted to their own: 'Who will be a tanker?' So the Abkhaz forces gradually acquired their own tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, painted over inscriptions in Georgian on them, and wrote their slogans in Abkhazian. The whole of Abkhazia, 200 km from the border with Russia to the border with Georgia, is connected by practically the only road running along the sea. In addition, this whole road runs along the mountain slopes, densely overgrown with forest. Naturally, this facilitated the task of the Abkhaz militia forces defending and conducting partisan warfare in the occupied eastern regions. Enraged by the fierce resistance of the Abkhazians, the commander of the Georgian forces G. Karkarashvili spoke on Sukhumi television on August 27, 1992 and said that "… I am ready to sacrifice 100 thousand Georgians for the destruction of 98 thousand Abkhazians." In the same speech, he said that he had given an order to the troops - not to take prisoners.
A few days after the start of the invasion, Georgian forces landed an amphibious assault in the Gagra region. The well-armed guards quickly took control of a significant territory, distributed the weapons they brought with them to the local Georgians. Now the Abkhaz forces are caught between two groups of Georgian forces: Sukhum and Gagra.
The situation seemed hopeless. There are no weapons and ammunition, in the east - the enemy, in the west - the enemy, at sea - Georgian boats and ships, in the north - the impenetrable Caucasian ridge. But here a new factor entered the arena, not material - spiritual. Perhaps the appropriate name for it would be - "Just War of Liberation." The savagery perpetrated by the aggressor in the occupied territories caused massive indignation not only in Abkhazia itself. Volunteers from the republics of the North Caucasus flocked to Abkhazia through the rugged mountain passes: Adygs, Kabardians, Chechens, representatives of many other Caucasian peoples, and … Russians. A thin trickle of weapons also stretched out - from Chechnya, which by that time had gained de facto independence, having completely liquidated all federal structures on its territory. Having finally realized that the situation in Abkhazia cannot be called genocide otherwise, Moscow began a "double" game. In words, she recognized the territorial integrity of Georgia, but in fact she began to supply weapons to the Abkhaz forces from the territories of Russian military units stationed in Abkhazia. Strong men with military bearing and Slavic faces appeared at the Abkhaz mountain training bases, who taught the Abkhazians and volunteers who formed their units the science of war. And two months later, the Abkhaz forces seized Gagra by storm, reaching the border with Russia along the Psou River. The Russians (mostly Cossacks, many after Transnistria) fought in the so-called 'Slavbat' - considered one of the most efficient units of the Abkhaz forces, and in small groups of different units.
The soldiers of the Armenian battalion fought selflessly, took part in almost all serious operations (before the war there were more than 70 thousand Armenians in Abkhazia). A battalion of 'Confederates' (volunteers from the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus), led by Shamil Basayev, fought skillfully and courageously. It was in his battalion that the poet Alexander Bardodym fought and died, who then wrote the lines that became famous:
The spirit of the nation must be rapacious and wise, A judge for merciless troops, He hides mother-of-pearl in his pupil like a cobra, He is a buffalo with a motionless look.
In the land where swords are crimson with blood, Doesn't look for cowardly solutions.
He's a hawk counting peaceful men
In the heat of battles.
And his account is accurate, as is the scope
In indestructible movement.
The fewer men who choose fear
The higher is the flight of the hawk.
The fate of the war was sealed. Now weapons to the Abkhazians came freely across the border with Russia, and volunteers also freely arrived, the number of which, however, never exceeded more than one thousand people at the front at the same time. The Abkhazians themselves fielded about 7-8 thousand fighters, for a 100 thousand people this was the maximum. In fact, all men and many women fought. Liana Topuridze, a 22-year-old nurse of the Abkhaz militia, a student of the biology faculty of the Abkhaz State University, was captured by the 'guards' and mocked at her all day, and was only shot in the evening. The Georgian military made, of course, certain efforts to establish discipline and order in their units; there were many cases when the guardsmen, especially aged ones, stopped their fellow soldiers, who were fixing lawlessness. However, the overall situation was depressing: violence, bullying and atrocities against civilians and prisoners, drunkenness and drug addiction flourished in the Georgian forces. During the period of initial successes, the Georgian side had about 25 thousand fighters at the front, but as they realized the fact that they would have to fight for real, their number steadily decreased. The Georgian people of 4 million did not actually support the war, the atrocities of their own troops were well known in Georgia, so the recruitment of Georgian forces was extremely difficult. They had to recruit those who urgently wanted to fight in Ukraine and other CIS countries, and in March 1993, about 700 Ukrainian militants arrived in Sukhum on 4 planes from Ukraine. A number of fighters from the Baltics and Russia fought on the Georgian side, but the total number of "foreigners" at the front also did not exceed 1,000. It is interesting that in connection with the end of the war in Transnistria, the liberated forces moved from the Transnistrian side to the war in Abkhazia: only the Ukrainians went to fight for the Georgian forces, and the Russians (Cossacks, mostly) - for the Abkhaz. Criminals from the Mkhedrioni detachments and the Kitovani police, having collected all the valuables in the controlled territories and transported them to Georgia, began to evaporate before our eyes. It is one thing to torture old people with irons, and quite another to open battle with the now well-armed Abkhazians. Having laid the capital on all sides, after a series of heavy battles, during the third assault they took Sukhum. Shevardnadze, who flew to Sukhum to cheer up his soldiers, was evacuated to Tbilisi from the battle zone in a Russian military helicopter, guarded by Russian special forces. On September 30, 1993, Abkhaz forces reached the border with Georgia, and this date is celebrated in Abkhazia as Victory Day.
Squeezed between the Caucasian ridge and Georgian forces, the mining town of Tkvarchal in the eastern zone lasted the entire war - more than 400 days. Georgian forces were unable to take it, despite repeated shelling and airstrikes, as well as a carefully organized blockade. The angry "guards" shot down a Russian helicopter that was evacuating women and children from Tkvarchala to Gudauta - more than 60 people were burned to death in a huge fire. The people of Tkvarchal - Abkhazians, Russians, Georgians - were dying of hunger right on the streets, as in besieged Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War, but they never surrendered. And it is no coincidence that today in Abkhazia that war is called 1992-1993. - Patriotic. The total irrecoverable losses of all parties in it are approximately estimated at 10 thousand people. Almost all Georgians left Abkhazia, almost all Russians left. There are more Armenians left. As a result, the population fell by about two-thirds. There were facts of mass killings of the civilian Georgian population committed by some part of the Abkhazians and 'Confederates'. It was then that the Chechens began to practice such tricks as cutting the throat of prisoners. However, the Georgian side did not stand on ceremony with the prisoners. In fact, the population has dropped by two-thirds of the pre-war level. About 50 thousand Georgians, unsullied by their crimes, have already returned to the Gali region, where they lived compactly before the war.
Today
Today tourists again go to Abkhazia - a million a season. They look at the magnificent thickets of magnolias, tall, eucalyptus bunnies, chic spreading palms, twisted cheeky lianas, ready to burst right into the house. Many lianas have burst into the houses - these are the houses of people driven out by the war. They scare tourists a little with the hostile blackness of windows and ruined roofs. Monuments now stand next to magnolias and eucalyptus trees; here and there memorial plaques with portraits of various people who defended the honor, freedom and right to exist of a small but proud people are visible right on the rocks. In the midst of the tourist season in August-September, holidaymakers periodically see the ceremonies of local residents. This is the Abkhazians remember on August 14 - the day of the beginning of the aggression of the Georgian forces, they celebrate August 26 - Independence Day and September 30 - Victory Day. Today Russia has finally made up its mind. In Gudauta there is now a military base of the Russian army, in the roadstead of Novy Afon there are warships of the Russian fleet.
The threat of a new war has not disappeared. In August 2008, the Georgian forces under the leadership of the new Commander-in-Chief M. Saakashvili tried to take revenge, but a big brown bear came from the north, clapped his paw, and everyone fled. The war ended in 3 days. And rightly so, the magnolia flower must be flawless.
Additional materials:
1. From the memoirs of the Polish journalist Mariusz Wilk, who was on the side of the Georgian forces in 1993:
'… We arrived at a small, ancient-looking village near Tbilisi, where the formation camp was located. It reminded me of Fellini's films, where he tells about the birth of fascism in Italy. It was in Italy, not in Germany. So, camp. Drilling of the members of the formation took place. They were men of about 40 years old. The picture struck me as a little funny, because they were clearly former teachers, villagers, collective farmers who were not used to military uniforms. They excited themselves with bellicose shouts and greeted each other with a fascist gesture of throwing out their hand. They were not scary, but rather grotesque. But it was worth remembering that these people could kill other people in order to feel the thunderstorm. These were the Kitovans - the black, political police. '
'Then the drunken Commander began to be frank … He said that war had become a profession for him, and his calling was to live in war. He said that they would return to South Ossetia, because the Ossetians would get rich by that time and there would be something to rob. And if not Ossetia, then rich Adjara, which can be ripped off. In the meantime, we will plunder Ossetia and Adjara, Abkhazia will get rich. Thus, he showed me that in this war, and maybe not only in this one, political goals do not concern people with weapons. For them, war means entering the city, robbing all shops, robbing apartments, then transporting it all to Tbilisi to their businessmen they know. '
2. Letter from the first deputy head of the Gagra administration, Mikhail Jincharadze, addressed to Eduard Shevardnadze (written during the occupation of the Gagra region by Georgian forces):
'Mister Edward!
Today we have 600 armed guardsmen and Mkhedrioni forces in the city. The rest, up to 400 people, left for Tbilisi in an organized manner … At the same time, we are concerned about one question. In connection with the arrival of new forces during these 4-5 days, life in the city actually went out. Houses and apartments are being robbed. They started with robbing Abkhazian houses, then continued robbing Armenians, Russians, and now they started robbing Georgian apartments. In fact, there was not a single private or state car left in the city that was not taken out. I am more concerned about the political significance of this process. The population of other nationalities has actually already dissociated itself from the Georgian people. In the city and among the Georgians there is a tendency of dissatisfaction with the army, which can cause undesirable results, since in our city there are still numerous groups of Zviad's supporters who conduct unwanted propaganda, and robbery by armed units pours water on their mill.
I would not want to bother you, Mr. Edward, I myself would have acted together with the commandant, if there had not been a robbery. But already the process becomes uncontrollable, since it is virtually impossible to control the various parts. Probably, it is necessary to urgently allocate a group of the Ministry of Defense in order to timely control the military units, otherwise we will lose the political struggle. '
3. Battalion named after Baghramyan (Armenian battalion named after Baghramyan, separate Armenian motorized rifle battalion named after Marshal I. Kh. Baghramyan) - a military formation of the Abkhaz armed formations during the Georgian-Abkhaz war of the 90s, named after I. Kh.. Bagramyan. The battalion consisted of ethnic Armenians and was created on February 9, 1993. The battalion took part in hostilities against the government forces of Georgia. After the start of the Georgian-Abkhaz war, Georgian forces began punitive operations against the non-Georgian, including the Armenian population of the republic. After robberies and violence against Armenians, at an urgently convened meeting of the leadership of the Gagra community 'Mashtots', it was decided to officially support the Abkhaz side and come up with arms on the Abkhaz side. The first battle, in which the battalion took part, took place on March 15-16, 1993, during the second assault on Sukhum. The battalion was tasked with taking a strategic and well-fortified bridge over the Gumista River, which it completed, losing many fighters. There was a need to replenish the battalion, for which several Armenians arrived from Nagorno-Karabakh, who fought against the government troops of Azerbaijan. They, as well as Russian mercenaries - professional military, started training the battalion. The number of the battalion exceeded 350 people, and the second Armenian battalion was organized in Gagra. The estimated number of Armenians in the ranks of the Abkhaz armed formations was over 1,500. In September 1993, after fruitless negotiations, the Abkhaz side launched an operation against the Georgian government forces. Both Armenian battalions took part in the operation to capture Sukhumi. According to eyewitnesses, the Armenian battalions were very well armed and equipped. Back in the early summer of 1993, with the help of representatives of foreign diasporas, the Armenian diaspora of Abkhazia managed to arrange the supply of several consignments of modern weapons, in particular, the Bumblebee jet flamethrowers. During the battles in the city, the Baghramyanovites actively used this weapon to suppress firing points and destroy armored vehicles. After the capture of Sukhum, the Armenian battalion was transferred to the Kodori Gorge. The task of the battalion was to liquidate the defensive area near the village of Lata and in the area of the tunnels, where the Svans were defeated.
