MOSCOW. March 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Lieutenant General Anatoly Zaitsev, deputy defense minister of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia, was promoted to first deputy defense minister and Armed Forces chief-of-staff on Wednesday.
"Abkhaz Defense Minister Soltan Sosnaliyev appointed me his first deputy and chief-of-staff," Zaitsev told Interfax-Military News Agency by phone from Tsukhumi.
The previous chief-of-staff, Lieutenant General Vladimir Arshba, is put at the disposal of the Defense Ministry's HR department, Zaitsev said.
According to him, the defense minister will have six deputies, not five, from now on.
"Lieutenant General Merab Kishmaria, former military commissioner of Abkhazia, was made first deputy minister, too," Zaitsev noted.