The Abkhaz-Russian border will be opened for crossing from 1 August. Information about this was disseminated on Friday, July 31, by Russian media with reference to the Russian Operational Headquarters to combat the spread of coronavirus infection.

Earlier that day, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova held a regular meeting of the headquarters.

“Based on the results of the meeting, a decision was made to open the state border of the Russian Federation with the Republic of Abkhazia from August 1, 2020. The decision was made on the basis of the conclusions of the Rospotrebnadzor and the Ministry of Health of Russia on assessing the sanitary and epidemiological situation in Abkhazia and determining the readiness of the Abkhazian infrastructure facilities to receive tourists,” the Russian Headquarters reported.

President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhaniya will open the common border simultaneously with Russia.  He told this to the Russian news agency Interfax.

“We welcome this decision, we are grateful to the Russian Federation.  The very second when Russia opens the border with Abkhazia, the border from Abkhazia will be open. There are no problems from our side, and there cannot be,” Bzhaniya told Interfax on Friday evening.

Not long before that, representatives of the Rospotrebnadzor visited Abkhazia. Together with their Abkhaz colleagues, they monitored the state of conditions in tourist facilities. Following this three-day working visit, the representative of the Rospotrebnadzor Yevgeny Minin said that the epidemiological situation in Abkhazia is safe.

Entry to the territory of the Republic of Abkhazia was restricted in March this year due to the outbreak of coronavirus infection in the world. According to operational data, 84 cases of infection have been recorded in Abkhazia for the entire time of the pandemic, 3 people infected with COVID-19 have died.