Gudauta

Gudauta გუდაუთა, Гәдоуҭа, Гудаута Gwdowtha
town
View of Gudauta's centre
Location of Gudauta within Abkhazia
Gudauta Location of Gudauta in Georgia
Coordinates: 43°06′7.16″N 40°37′29.28″E / 43.1019889°N 40.6248000°ECoordinates: 43°06′7.16″N 40°37′29.28″E / 43.1019889°N 40.6248000°E
Country	Georgia
Partially recognized independent country	Abkhazia[1]
District	Gudauta
Population (2003)[2]
• Total	8,514
Time zone	MSK (UTC+3)

Gudauta (Georgian: გუდაუთა, [gudɑutʰɑ]; Abkhaz: Гәдоуҭа, Gwdowtha; Russian: Гудаута, Gudauta) is a town in Abkhazia and a centre of the eponymous district. It is situated on the Black Sea, 37 km northwest to Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia.

43°06′07″N 40°37′29″E / 43.10199°N 40.6248°E

Overview

Gudauta used to be home to a Soviet Air Defence Forces base, Bombora airfield, where the 171st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment flew Su-15TMs until 1982. The 171st Fighter Aviation Regiment was then transferred to Ugolnye Kopi, Chukotia Autonomous Okrug.^[3] The 529th Fighter Aviation Regiment, flew Su-27 'Flankers' from the base in the last years of the Cold War.^[4] This regiment was under the command of the 19th Army of the Air Defence Forces. Gudauta was a center of Abkhaz separatist resistance to Georgian government forces during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in 1992–1993.

Bombora airfield outside Gudauta later became home to a Soviet Airborne Forces unit, the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment, later redesignated the 50th military base after the Soviet collapse, and then the 10th Independent Peacekeeping Airborne Regiment. The unit was subordinated directly to the Russian General Staff (earlier it used to be under the HQ of the Russian Airborne Forces). In 1999, its equipment includes 142 AIFV/APC (among them - 62 BMD-1 and 11 BMD-2); and 11 self- propelled artillery systems 2S9 "Nona-S".^[5]

The base has always been a significant factor in the Abkhaz conflict. The Georgian side and many Western independent observers claim the Gudauta base provided principal military support to Abkhaz rebels during the war in 1992–1993. In September 1995, Georgia had to legitimize Russian leases of three bases in the country and the Gudauta base among them.

At a summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in Istanbul in 1999, Russia agreed to shut down its base at Gudauta and to withdraw troops and equipment, pledging that henceforth it would be for the sole use of the CIS peacekeepers ("rehabilitation centre for peacekeeping troops"). However, Abkhaz authorities block OSCE inspection visits and no date is set for withdrawal from the base. Georgia still alleges that it is used to offer military support to the Abkhaz secessionists.

After the 2008 South Ossetia war Russia recognized Abkhazia and mutual assistance treaties was signed between the two states. This treaty allowed Russia to keep its military base in Gudauta and reinforce it with T-62 tanks, light armored vehicles, S-300 air defense systems and several aircraft.^[6]

The Gudauta base remains one of the main problems in complicated Russian-Georgian relations.

Etymology

Гәдоу-ҭа: Гәдоу is a mane of the river, ҭа is a locative suffix.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Gudauta is twinned with the following city:

• Kineshma, Russia^[7]

See also

• Abkhazia
• List of cities in Georgia

References

1. Abkhazia's status is disputed. It considers itself to be an independent state, but this is recognised by only a few other countries. The Georgian government and most of the world's other states consider Abkhazia de jure a part of Georgia's territory. In Georgia's official subdivision it is an autonomous republic, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi.
2. (Russian) Infos at ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru
3. MIchael Holm, 171st Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO, accessed October 2011
4. V.I. Feskov et al, 'The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War,' Tomsk, 2004
5. CIPDD, The Army and Society in Georgia, October 1999
6. Infos at en.rian.ru
7. Infos at www.kineshemec.ru

External links

Media related to Gudauta at Wikimedia Commons