Igor Akhba

Igor Muratovich Akhba (Abkhaz: Игор Мурат-иԥа Ахба; ; ; 5 February 1949 – 18 August 2026) was an Abkhaz diplomat and politician. From 2008 until 2021 he was the first ambassador of the Republic of Abkhazia to the Russian Federation, and in 2004 he was for a short time the Minister for Foreign Affairs of his nation.

Early life and career

Igor Akhba was born on 5 February 1949 in Sukhumi, in what was then the Abkhazian ASSR. In 1972 he graduated from the faculty of law of the Moscow State University. In 1975 Akhba obtained a degree in Public and International Law from the Post-graduate Institute of State and Law of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1976 until 1989 Akhba worked as a research fellow with the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR. From 1989 until 1992 he was an assistant in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.

Diplomatic and political career In 1992, Igor Akhba was named presidential plenipotentiary to Russia, a post he has held for a long time. On 28 July 2004, Akhba was temporarily appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia by outgoing President Vladislav Ardzinba. On 14 December 2004, shortly after the height of the crisis following the 2004 presidential election, he was replaced by Sergei Shamba and returned to his posting in Moscow.

On 26 August 2008 the Republic of Abkhazia was formally recognised as independent by the Russian Federation, on 9 September the two states established diplomatic relations and on 14 November Igor Akhba was appointed the first Abkhazian ambassador to Russia. On 10 December 2008 he presented his credentials to Grigory Karasin, the State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and presented his Letter of Credence to President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev on 16 January 2009.

Personal life and death Akhba was married and had a child.