INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Authorities in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia released several opposition activists who were arrested while protesting an
economic agreement with Russia in exchange for their supporters unblocking key roads and bridges, state mediareported Tuesday.Five activists
A sixth activist wasarrested late last week.Supporters of the arrested activists started blocking traffic along three key bridges leading to
Sukhumi were unblocked.Opposition activists argue that the Russian-Abkhazian investment deal would lead to the construction of complexes in
after wartime sanctions and flight bans made travel to EU countries more difficult.Russia recognizes the self-proclaimed republic nestled
between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea as an independent country, but the international community recognizes Abkhazia and the
breakaway region South Ossetia as part of Georgia.Russia and Abkhazia signed the controversial investment deal in Moscow last month and it
is expected to be ratified this Friday.Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia following an ethnic conflict in the early 1990s after the
