The Republic of Abkhazia is a breakaway entity on the eastern shore of the Black Sea that claimed independence from Georgia in 1999. It is officially recognized only by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, Syria, and Russia, the latter of which maintains a military presence there.

The National Bank of Abkhazia issued 15,000 25-aspar commemorative bank notes on May 22 “dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War of the people of Abkhazia.”

The bank said in its announcement that, in accordance with the law, its “banknotes cannot be used as a means of payment in the retail trade system.”

The image on the face of the note is of a soaring hawk, with a larger rendition of its head in profile behind it. At the top are the seven stars from the Abkhazian flag in a semicircle. A sailboat is on the left side in the background. The images are superimposed on a traditional Abkhazian ornament. In the lower left corner is the coat of arms. The denomination is in the upper left corner.

The note is green and beige in color and printed on white cotton paper.

The main image on the back is a pair of Abkhaz warriors flanking a traditional Abkhazian ornament. An image of seven stars duplicates those on the face, and the denomination is in the right corner.

Security devices include a common watermark and two types of security fibers, a color variable element, the eagle effect in offset and metallographic printing, graphic guilloche features, and copy protection elements.

Two serial numbers are printed on the reverse, which include a two-letter series designation and a nine-digit number. The left number is legible on the long side of the banknote and the right number on the short side. At the bottom right is a QR-code that link to a page on the Bank of Abkhazia site.

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