Map centered on the Caucasus indicating Abkhazia (orange)and Georgia proper (grey).
Abkhazia was a disputed territory and partially recognized state controlled by a separatist government on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus on Terra.
Abkhazia considered itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. This status was recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru and also by the partially recognized state of South Ossetia and the unrecognized Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Georgian government, the United Nations and the majority of the world's governments considered Abkhazia a part of Georgia's territory, though Georgia was not in control of it. Under Georgia's official designation it was an autonomous republic, called the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, whose government sat in exile in Tbilisi.
The status of Abkhazia was a central issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The wider region formed part of the Soviet Union until 1991 CE. As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate towards the end of the 1980s, ethnic tensions grew between the Abkhaz and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. This led to the 1992–1993 CE War in Abkhazia. In August 2008 CE, the sides again fought during the South Ossetia War, which was followed by the formal recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, the annulment of the 1994 ceasefire agreement and the termination of the UN and OSCE missions. The Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution declaring Abkhazia a Russian-occupied territory. A major part of international community considered Abkhazia to be occupied by the Russian military. Russia did not allow the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) to enter Abkhazia. Abkhazia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia were post-Soviet "frozen conflict" zones. Those four states maintained friendly relations with each other and form the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations.
The Krubera Cave in Abkhazia was chosen to create a hermetically sealed and hidden chamber where 2,500 humans would sleep in suspended animation as part of Operation Deep Sleep until the Xunx would suspend their activities again and emerge either to repopulate Terra or to join Humanity after successfully beating the Xunx. The project was completed and the sleepers were placed in suspended animation...and forgotten.
In 4800 OTT, during an off duty conversation with Admiral McElligott, Admiral Stahl asked: "Whatever happened to our Sleeper Project?" Only then the 2500 Sleepers of the Krubera Cave were successfully reanimated after sleeping a good deal over 2000 years, finding a completely changed reality.