A year into the brutal 1992-93 Georgian-Abkhaz war, Russia sent a so-called humanitarian-aid column to the separatist city of Tkvarcheli, which Georgian military forces were holding under siege.
Living conditions in Tkvarcheli were desperate, and Georgian officials agreed to assistance by Russia, which had adopted an officially neutral stance during the war despite giving tacit support to the separatists.
But Moscow, angered by a Georgian attack on a Russian transport helicopter carrying more than 50 people, secretly shipped more than medicine and food to Tkvarcheli. It also provided missiles, submachine guns, and other heavy artillery to the city — allowing the newly armed Abkhaz separatists to eventually fight down the Georgian military, take the regional capital, Sukhumi, and declare de facto independence.
The Russian official in charge of the humanitarian aid mission? Then-head of the Emergency Situations Ministry Sergei Shoigu — now Russian defense minister.
