SUKHUMI. Oct 1 (Interfax-AVN) - Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh has thanked everyone who supported the republic during wartime and the reconstruction period.
"On behalf of the Abkhaz leaders and all Abkhaz people I would like to thank all those who during the uneasy years of war and post-war construction in Abkhazia stood beside us and supported us," Bagapsh said at a reception at the presidential administration building on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Abkhaz Independence Day.
"The republic, which has so many friends, will be able to build a civilized, legal, democratic state, whose priority is not war, but the construction and growth of welfare for its people," Bagapsh said.
The reception heard a congratulatory message from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Delegations from the Russian State Duma, a whole host of Russian regions, Cossack communities, Zaporozhiye Cossacks, from Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia, Syria's Abkhaz-Adygean diaspora handed to Bagapsh their congratulatory addresses and gifts.
One of the gifts was a Kalashnikov assault rifle with the author's brand and inscription on it. The weapon was a present from the organization of veterans of the Russian security service.