Gudauta
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Gudauta (Abkhaz: Гəдоуҭа, Gwdowtha; Georgian: გუდაუთა; Russian: Гудаута) is a town in Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia and a centre of the eponymous district. It is situated on the Black Sea, 37 km northwest to Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia. It used to be home to a Soviet Air Force base.
Gudauta was a center of Abkhaz separatist resistance to Georgian government forces during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in 1992–1993.
The Bombora Airfield outside Gudauta was home to a Soviet-era Airborne Forces unit, the 345th Airborne Regiment, later redesignated the 10th Independent Peacekeeping Airborne Regiment. 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 data is set for withdrawal form the base. Georgia still alleges that it is used to offer military support to the Abkhaz secessionists.
The Gudauta base remains one of the main problems in complicated Russian-Georgian relations.
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