Stanislav Lakoba, Leading Abkhaz Historian, Dies at 73
Stanislav Lakoba (1953–2025), leading Abkhaz historian and scholar.
SUKHUM / AQW’A — Stanislav Lakoba, one of Abkhazia’s most prominent historians and writers, has died aged 73 after suffering a heart attack while driving. According to updated reports, he experienced the heart attack moments before his vehicle collided with a roadside pole. His wife, who was also in the car, is in hospital but her condition is not life-threatening.
A Professor at Abkhaz State University and Chief Researcher at the Department of History of the AbIGI, Lakoba was a laureate of the D.I. Gulia State Prize and an Honoured Scientist of the Republic of Abkhazia.
Born on 23 February 1953 in Sukhum, he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology at the Sukhum State Pedagogical Institute in 1976. He began his career as a correspondent for Soviet Abkhazia and later served as Academic Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of Abkhazia.
From 1980 he worked at the Abkhaz Institute of Language, Literature and History (now AbIGI), becoming Head of its History Department in 1989. Between 1991 and 1996 he was a deputy of the Supreme Council – Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia, and later its First Deputy Chairman and First Vice-Speaker. He was a close associate of Abkhazia’s first president, Vladislav Ardzinba.
Lakoba played a key role in the Geneva peace process on the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict, conducted under UN auspices and mediated by Russia. In the 2004 presidential elections, he initially ran as Vice-Presidential candidate alongside Sergei Bagapsh but later withdrew in favour of Raul Khadzhimba to promote unity within Abkhazia. He also served twice as Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Abkhazia, from 2005 to 2009 and from 2011 to 2013.
A prolific scholar, Lakoba authored more than a hundred books, monographs and articles on the history, politics and culture of Abkhazia and the wider Caucasus. He lectured internationally, including at Hokkaido University’s Slavic Research Centre and Tokyo’s Hosei University, and published two books in Japan analysing Abkhazia’s post-Soviet experience.
He participated in numerous international and regional conferences devoted to the political history and culture of Abkhazia.
Lakoba was the chief editor of the textbook History of Abkhazia published in Sukhum in 1991 and republished in Gudauta in 1993. In 2006 and 2015 he co-authored with Academician O. Bgazhba the textbook History of Abkhazia from Ancient Times to the Present Day for 10th–11th grade students.
Among Lakoba’s best-known books and monographs are: The Militants of Abkhazia in the 1905–1907 Revolution (Sukhum, 1984); The Days Flew By in Sukhum-Kale. Historical and Cultural Sketches (Sukhum, 1988); Essays on the Political History of Abkhazia (Sukhum, 1990); Georgia’s Hundred-Year War Against Abkhazia (Gagra, 1993); Reply to Historians from Tbilisi (Sukhum, 2001); The Abkhazian Archive (Moscow, 2002); several sections on history in The Abkhazians, edited by G. Hewitt (London; New York, 1999); chapters in the monograph Abkhazians (Moscow, 2012); and The Great Terror in Abkhazia: 1937–1938 (Council of Europe, 2017), among others.
Lakoba also contributed to AbkhazWorld.com and its projects, sharing articles, commentary and insights that enriched international understanding of Abkhazia’s history and culture.
Lakoba’s sudden death is a significant loss to Abkhazia’s academic and cultural life.
AbkhazWorld extends its deepest condolences on the passing of Professor Stanislav Lakoba, an outstanding historian and scholar whose work has been instrumental in documenting and preserving Abkhazia’s history and culture.
Professor Lakoba generously shared his knowledge, insights and commentary with AbkhazWorld and its projects over the years, enriching our readers’ understanding of Abkhazia’s past and present. His dedication to scholarship and his willingness to engage with international audiences leave an enduring legacy.
We join his family, friends, colleagues and the wider Abkhazian community in mourning this tremendous loss and in honouring his lifelong contribution to the study and promotion of Abkhazia.
May his memory be eternal.