1. Raul Jumkovich Khajimba is an Abkhazian politician who served as President of Abkhazia from 25 September 2014 until 12 January 2020.
19 Facts About Raul Khajimba
1. 2.
Raul Khajimba was Chairman of the Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia from 2010 to 2015.
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Raul Khajimba unsuccessfully ran for president in 2004,2009 and 2011.
4.
Raul Khajimba resigned the presidency in 2020 due to protests against him.
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Raul Khajimba was born on 21 March 1959 in Tkvarcheli, where he went to school and worked as a mechanic at the power station.
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From 1985 until 1986 Raul Khajimba studied at the KGB school in Minsk, and he subsequently served as a KGB agent in Tkvarcheli until 1992.
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From 1996 until 1998, Raul Khajimba headed the anti-smuggling division of the State Customs Committee.
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On 16 May 2002, Raul Khajimba was appointed Defence Minister, replacing Vladimir Mikanba, while remaining First Vice Premier.
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On 22 April 2003, Raul Khajimba was appointed the new Prime Minister.
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Raul Khajimba has been a sharp opponent of reunification with Georgia, and vehemently condemned Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's proposal for a two-state federation in May 2004.
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On 28 May Raul Khajimba resigned, saying that he agreed with the criticism, but attributing his failure to tackle corruption and improve security to lack of room for manoeuvre and no support from the president Bagapsh whom he accused of violating the 2004 powersharing agreement and criticized him for signing a border protection agreement with Russia in 2009.
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The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that during the summer of 2009 Raul Khajimba had entered negotiations with Beslan Butba over forming an alliance for in the presidential election, but the pair fell out following the visit of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Abkhazia.
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Putin had met with Raul Khajimba, but not with Butba, and Butba considered this an unfriendly act on the part of Raul Khajimba.
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Raul Khajimba wanted the presidency, and offered Ardzinba to become Prime Minister, but this was not acceptable to the latter.
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On 12 May 2010, Raul Khajimba was elected Chairman of the FNUA, after the party congress had reduced the number of chairmen from 2 to 1.
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Raul Khajimba again ran for president in 2011, after the death of President Sergei Bagapsh.
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Raul Khajimba's running mate was Svetlana Jergenia, widow of first President Vladislav Ardzinba.
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Raul Khajimba led opposition protests that forced Alexander Ankvab to resign as president on 1 June 2014.
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However, Raul Khajimba hailed closer ties with Russia as promoting "the full scope of guarantees for the safety of our state and extensive opportunities for the social and economic development".