Formula: Fuel delivered to occupied Abkhazia bought from Repsol, owner of Connect

The owner of LLC ‘Solidus,’ Giorgi Arveladze, told Formula that the fuel his company supplied to occupied Abkhazia was purchased from ‘Repsol.’ As Formula reports, ‘Repsol’ owns the ‘Connect’ network of gas stations.

“Formula had this information as early as yesterday, but the management of ‘Connect’ categorically denied any involvement in supplying fuel to Abkhazia. Today, however, the company says it did not know what its client intended to do with the 300 tons of gasoline it purchased,” Formula writes.

Yesterday, the owner of ‘Solidus,’ Giorgi Arveladze, confirmed in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that his company had supplied fuel to occupied Abkhazia.

Arveladze said the shipment involved approximately 300 tons of fuel, which his company delivered to its “Abkhaz partners” via the Enguri Bridge.

He said the fuel was intended “mainly for the population of Gali and local gas stations.”

Information was disseminated in the media that, against the background of the fuel crisis created in Abkhazia, fuel entered from territory controlled by Georgia. At a briefing held in the Government Administration on 12 August, the head of government Irakli Kobakhidze confirmed the said information and stated that the fuel was brought in not by the authorities, but by business in compliance with the law.

The Georgian government has not issued a special legal act authorizing the supply of fuel to occupied Abkhazia. The government administration told Radio Liberty that there was no need to issue such a legal act because the gasoline was brought into Abkhazia by a company with “special enterprise status.”

As BPN writes, on August 11, 2026, the government issued a new decree extending LLC “Solidus’s” authorization to operate in the occupied territory for three months, “for relations arising from July 18, 2026.”

Nika Gvaramia, leader of the ‘Coalition for Change,’ believes that the fuel supply scheme to Abkhazia was highly likely created by Russia to circumvent sanctions and facilitate the purchase of strategic goods.

The ‘Gakharia for Georgia’ party is demanding that Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze clarify whether the fuel supply to occupied Abkhazia had the Georgian government’s authorization and provide information on the companies involved, the quantities, routes, and legal basis for the shipments.