Georgia’s former Defense Minister Tengiz Kitovani explains Abkhazia's ex-president Sergei Bagapsh’s death by his refusal to transfer to Russia a 12-kilometer coast side area Leselidze Gagra, Russian media reported.

“He was strangled due to his refusal to give up 12-kilometer coast side area Leselidze Gagra. On the second day after the August war, Armenians claimed that part of the Black Sea Coast as theirs,” Kitovani stressed.

On December 12, 2009, Sergei Bagapsh won the presidential race in Abkhazia. On February 12, 2010 for the second time he was inaugurated as President of Abkhazia.

On May 27, 2011, Bagapsh’s state suddenly worsened after an operation by Russian and French doctors performed earlier that month.

He passed away on May 29, 2011.