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Abkhazia
An autonomous republic within the Republic of
Georgia whose 1994 declaration of independence
has not been recognized by neighboring coun-
tries, Abkhazia is a region of about 3,300 square
miles situated between the main Caucasian range
and the Black Sea, with a subtropical climate
along its coastline. A principality ruled by Otto-
man Turkey since 1578, Abkhazia fell under Rus-
sian rule in 1810. After the abolition of the
principality in 1864 and uprisings against Russian
rule, the large majority of ethnic Abkhazians
emigrated to Turkey. Another wave of Abkhazian
migrants followed, after the conclusion of the
RUSSO
-
TURKISH WAR OF
1877-78
. Under Soviet
rule, an Abkhazian Soviet Socialist Republic was
established in 1921, but then was made part of
the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in Decem-
ber 1921. In December 1922, both Abkhazia and
Georgia were made part of the Transcaucasian
Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, which existed
until 1936. With the dissolution of the Trans-
caucasian SFSR, Abkhazia was again placed under
Georgian jurisdiction. During Joseph
STALIN
's
rule, Soviet authorities in Georgia followed a pol-
icy of enforced cultural assimilation and suppres-
sion of Abkhazian culture that was significantly
relaxed after 1953. In 1978, the Abkhazians peti-
tioned to secede from the Georgian SSR and join
the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic,
but their request was not approved. With the
unraveling and dissolution of the Soviet Union in
the early 1990s, the tensions between Abk-
hazians and Georgians came to the surface. A
declaration of independence from Georgia by the
Abkhazian legislature in 1990 was reversed by
ethnic Georgian deputies, and this eventually led
to the outbreak of armed conflict in 1992. By
1993 Abkhazian forces had managed to capture
the regional capital of Sukhumi, on the Black Sea,
and drive out Georgian troops. Russia arranged
for a cease-fire in 1994 through the establish-
ment of a peacekeeping force sponsored by the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),
composed of most of the former Soviet republics.
The 1994 Abkhazian declaration of indepen-
dence was followed in 1996 by CIS economic
sanctions.
Abramov, Feodor Aleksandrovich
(1920-1983)
writer
A writer known for his advocacy of peasants and
rural themes, Abramov was in the forefront of the
“
VILLAGE PROSE
” movement that played an impor-
tant role in Soviet literature from the 1950s to the
1970s. Abramov was born in the town of Verkhola
in Archangel Province to a peasant family. He
enrolled in the philology faculty of Leningrad
State University, but his studies were interrupted
by military service during World War II. He grad-
uated in 1951 and taught at his alma mater until
1960, serving as chairman of the department of
Soviet literature. Abramov's concern for peasants
and his critiques of the government's representa-
tion of village life led to reprimands from the
Union of Soviet Writers and his expulsion from
the staff of the literary journal
Neva.
In 1958
Abramov published his first novel,
Brothers and Sis-
ters,
set in a northern Russian village during World
War II. This novel proved to be the first of a four-
novel saga about the travails of Russian peasants
in the period after the war, collectively published
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