Moscow, which heavily backs the de facto republic, called the events an “internal affair” of Abkhazia and appealed for talks between the government and opposition.
According to UN statistics, there may be up to 87,000 stateless people in Uzbekistan. Many are ethnic Uzbeks who fled Tajikistan’s civil war in the early 1990s.
Georgia said the plan would be illegal, while Abkhazian authorities tried to pre-empt criticism that it would deepen the territory’s dependence on Russia.