Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin said on June 8 that Moscow’s financial support to Abkhazia would increase, reaching 2.5 billion Russian rubles (43.8 million USD as of June 10) in 2017.

The announcement came at the meeting of the “intergovernmental commission for the socio-economic cooperation” in Moscow on June 8.

According to Khloponin, Russia’s financial transfers to Abkhazia would amount to 1.6 billion rubles (28 million USD) in both 2018 and 2019.

Beslan Bartsits, head of the Abkhaz government and the delegation at the intergovernmental commission meeting, said that the Russian financing for 2017 increased by 500 million rubles (8.7 million USD).

Russian Minister for North Caucasus Lev Kuznetzov told reporters that in 2017-2019 Russia was planning to transfer to Abkhazia 5.8 billion rubles in total (101.8 million USD).