Adgur Amiranovich Ardzinba ( ab, Адгәыр Амиран-иҧа Арӡынба; russian: Адгур Амиранович Ардзинба; ka, ადგურ ამირანის ძე არძინბა; born 26 December 1981 in
Gudauta
Gudauta ( ka, გუდაუთა, ; ab, Гәдоуҭа, ''Gwdowtha''; russian: Гудаута, ''Gudauta'') is a town in Abkhazia, Georgia, and a centre of the eponymous district. It is situated on the Black Sea, 37 km northwest of Sukhu ...
) is an
Abkhazia
Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...
n politician, formerly the
Minister for Economy of Abkhazia from 2015 to 2020.
Minister for Economy of Abkhazia
Ardzinba was appointed by President
Raul Khajimba
Raul Jumkovich Khajimba ( ab, Рауль Џьумка-иҧа Ҳаџьымба, ka, რაულ ჯუმკას-ძე ჰაჯიმბა; born 21 March 1958) is an Abkhazian politician, and served as President of Abkhazia from 25 September ...
on 8 April 2015, succeeding
Nikolai Achba. As Minister for Economy, he announced plans to launch an own
Abkhaz cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...
in a bid to avoid potential sanctions and attract international investment. “The advantage of this cryptocurrency market has to do with the fact that any citizen in the entire world can invest in our economy, not fearing sanctions or other awkward limitations placed on us by the international community,” he said to
Apsnypress
Apsnypress is the ''de facto'' state press agency of Abkhazia. Its stated goals is to assist in development of democracy, sovereignty and independence of the breakaway Abkhaz republic and to ensure the information security thereof.
Detailed objec ...
late 2017. One year later, rampant cryptocurrency mining threatened the shaky electrical network in the republic, forcing officials to call for putting regulatory shackles on the money-making scheme in order to stave off power supply interruptions during the winter 2018/2019. Ardzinba however, stuck to the cryptocurrency plans and said to
Meduza
''Meduza'' ( rus, Медуза, t=jellyfish) is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent ''Lenta.ru'' news website. Free mob ...
that "given the limitations associated with the status of the republic, … we always seek nonconventional solutions to reach an acceptable level of economic development.” Apparently, Ardzinba had sought support for his cryptocurrency plans by the
Russian government
The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...
.
In 2020, he competed in the
2020 Abkhazian presidential election for the
. He lost against
Aslan Bzhania
Aslan Georgievich Bzhania ( ab, Аслан Гьаргь-иҧа Бжьаниа, ka, ასლან გიორგის-ძე ბჟანია, russian: Аслан Георгиевич Бжания; born 6 April 1963) has been President of A ...
and only received 36.9% of the votes. One month later, Bzhania as the new president dismissed Ardzinba.
After the success of Bzhania, Ardzinba criticized his government and implied that worsened
Abkhazia–Russia relations
Abkhazia–Russia relations (russian: Российско-абхазские отношения; ab, Урыстәыла-Аԥсны азыҟаӡаара) is the bilateral relationship between the Republic of Abkhazia and the Russian Federation. Ru ...
were the reason for financial problems of Abkhazia.
References
1981 births
Living people
Ministers for Economy of Abkhazia
People from Gudauta
Candidates in the 2020 Abkhazian presidential election
{{Abkhazia-poli-stub