"According to two Meduza sources close to the Russian presidential administration (AP), Kirienko himself volunteered to solve the Abkhazian crisis. He supervised Gunba’s campaign together with his close associate - head of the Russian Department for Monitoring and Analysis of Social Processes Alexander Kharichev, as well as Kharichev’s deputy, Boris Rapoport. “Two headquarters worked: one in Sukhum, the other in Sochi. Kharichev came regularly, Boris supervised directly on the spot,” Meduza’s source close to the AP specifies.

Kiriyenko assigned a group of Kremlin political strategists headed by the former vice-governor of the annexed territory of Zaporizhia Oblast, Sergei Tolmachev, to develop Gunba’s campaign. “[In Moscow, they initially understood that] it would not be possible to completely falsify the elections — due to the presence of representatives of opposition candidates [Adgur Ardzinba and Oleg Bartsits] in the election commissions, as well as observers associated with local clans, a significant portion of which support Ardzinba. The first round was the maximum program,” a source close to the Presidential Administration’s political bloc and familiar with the progress of the campaign explained to Meduza.

Since Tolmachev is known in political technology circles as a specialist in black PR, it made half of Gunba’s campaign. Kremlin-loyal Abkhazian media, as well as Russian publications and Telegram channels, accused opposition candidate Adgur Ardzinba of pro-Turkish views and ties to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The second vector of Gunba’s campaign was guarantees of support from Russia: the pro-Kremlin candidate demonstratively emphasized ties with the Russian leadership, met with officials from Moscow and negotiated with them on financial assistance to the republic."