At the de facto parliament session of Abkhazia of July 17, 2024, the draft law "On measures to raise the socio-economic development level of Ochamchire, Tkvarcheli and Gali districts of the Republic of Abkhazia" was introduced. If the draft law is adopted, Russian citizens will have the right to purchase and build real estate in Abkhazia. The Abkhazian opposition, civil society and a significant part of the local population are categorically against the above.

The sale of land and real estate to foreigners is currently prohibited in occupied Abkhazia. According to the so-called apartments draft law, foreigners and stateless persons will no longer be prohibited from buying apartments in "apartment-hotels". However, according to the draft law, ownership of an apartment will not be a basis for granting citizenship and/or residence certificate.

Aslan Bzhania "wanted" to adopt this draft law in July 2023, however, against the background of public protests, the draft law was returned to the de facto president. The situation changed in July 2024, when the deputies of the de facto parliament presented a modified version of the bill. The main difference is the scope of activity of the law and it covers only Tkvarcheli, Ochamchire, and Gali.

The public believes that the adoption of the law implies a secret sale of land, and its purpose will be to transfer the strategic property of Abkhazia to the ownership of Russian citizens. Opponents of the law are particularly worried about the scale of the bill. "30,000 apartments means the settlement of 60,000 foreigners in Abkhazia” - according to the Abkhaz population, for such a small territory as Abkhazia, this kind of migration process may become a cause of a demographic crisis.

The discussion of the draft law took place against the backdrop of noisy protests held by the opposition, civil society and citizens. Clashes took place near the building of the de facto parliament between the law enforcement officers and the participants in the rally protesting the adoption of the draft law. The situation escalated after one of the protesters shot twice in the direction of the parliament, due to which he was arrested on the charge of firing a firearm in a public gathering place.

According to public information, 3-5 thousand citizens were present at the rallies held in Sokhumi on July 17 and in Ochamchire on July 19, the main demand of which was to refuse the adoption of the draft law and to meet with population.  

According to the forecast of representatives of the civil society of Abkhazia, the parliament will not be able to pass the law in the light of objection of this scale. Several deputies have announced that they will vote against the law. However, personally, Aslan Bzhania and Russian high-ranking officials openly announce the adoption of the above-mentioned draft law in the current period, despite the objection. Along the protests, Russian state special forces were brought in Sokhumi from Sochi.

The Democracy Research Institute believes that the processes ongoing in Abkhazia, in the long term, contain a significant threat of the annexation of Abkhazia, and the implementation of similar initiatives is inadmissaible until the conflict is not resolved.