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Abkhazia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Abkhazia

De facto government President Sergei Bagapsh Vice President Raul Khadjimba Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab People's Assembly Political parties Elections: 2007 parl. De jure Government Chairman of the Supreme Council Temur Mzhavia Chairman of Cabinet of Ministers Malkhaz Akishbaia UNOMIG See also: Politics of Georgia

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Alexander (or Aleksandr) Ankvab (Abkhaz: Александр Анқәаб /anqwab/;born December 26, 1952) is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Abkhazia, formally part of Georgia but a self-declared independent state (although not recognised internationally). He was appointed to the post by Abkhaz president Sergei Bagapsh on February 14, 2005.

Born in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi, Ankvab graduated with a degree in law from the Rostov State University in southern Russia and worked as an official of the Komsomol for many years. He served between 1975-1981 as an official in the Justice Ministry of the Abkhaz ASSR. He joined the executive of the central committee of the Georgian Communist Party in 1981, being promoted to the post of deputy interior minister of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1984. He held this post until the end of Communist rule in Georgia in 1990.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Georgia's achievement of independence in 1991, Ankvab became a member of the Abkhaz Supreme Soviet. He was appointed interior minister of Abkhazia's separatist government during the 1992-1993 conflict with the Georgian central government. Following the Abkhaz victory, he moved to Moscow in 1994 and became a successful businessman.

He returned to Abkhazian politics in 2000, setting up a movement called Aytayra ("Revival") in opposition to the government of the then President Vladislav Ardzinba. In 2004 he announced that he would run for president, but was disqualified as ineligible on the grounds of an inability to speak Abkhaz (a requirement for public office in the republic) and too short a period of residency in Abkhazia. Ankvab decided to support Bagapsh instead and was crucial to the latter's electoral success. His appointment as prime minister was widely predicted.

• "Former Georgian minister says new Abkhaz premier will be strong leader", Imedi TV, Tbilisi, 14 February 2005
• "Ankvab appointed Abkhaz prime minister", Interfax Daily News Bulletin, 14 February 2005