MOSCOW  A new player has emerged in the roiling political theater of the Caucasus: the tiny, destitute Pacific island nation of Nauru, which on Tuesday became the fourth country to formally establish diplomatic relations with Abkhazia, effectively recognizing its sovereignty.  Nauru, an eight-square-mile rock in the South Pacific, has about 11,000 inhabitants.  The announcement comes 15 months after Russia began lobbying its allies to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two separatist territories at the center of its 2008 war with Georgia.  Nauru, an eight-square-mile rock in the South Pacific with about 11,000 inhabitants, was no pushover, according to the influential Russian daily newspaper Kommersant. In talks with Russian officials, Nauru requested $50 million for “urgent social and economic projects,” the newspaper reported, citing unnamed Russian diplomats.  Igor Lyakin-Frolov, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, would not comment on the report.  Nauru, the world’s smallest republic, has been desperate for income since its most important resource, phosphates formed by centuries of bird droppings, is nearly exhausted. The island has tried housing refugees for Australia and investing millions in a West End musical. (It bombed.)  Recently, it has begun to dabble in foreign-policy hardball. In 2002, Nauru severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan, coincident with a reported pledge of $130 million from China. Three years later, it switched again, prompting a Chinese official to grumble that the islanders were “only interested in material gains.”  In any case, the mood in Sukhumi, the Abkhaz capital, was celebratory on Tuesday.  Abkhazia’s foreign minister, Sergei Shamba, said his Nauruan counterpart, Kieren Keke, had promised to secure recognition for Abkhazia from other Pacific island nations. Officials brushed off questions about the island’s negligible economy and population, noting that it was a member in good standing of the United Nations.  “I have been lucky enough in my diplomatic career to sign agreements of diplomatic relations with the largest country in the world, Russia, and today, with the smallest, the republic of Nauru,” Mr. Shamba said, according to the local news agency, Apsnypress.  “In this range,” he added, “we feel ourselves to be a country of medium size.”  Abkhazia, which had previously been recognized by Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, has a population of about 215,000.  It was not clear whether Nauru would make a similar announcement regarding South Ossetia, which Mr. Keke visited over the weekend. South Ossetia’s foreign minister, Murat K. Dzhioyev, would not comment on Tuesday.  The news provoked waves of mirth from Russian commentators, some of whom broke down the per-capita cost of lobbying various nations to recognize the enclaves: roughly $3,500 a head for every resident of Nauru, $100 per Venezuelan, $200 per Belarussian, etc. One blogger called it “nano-recognition for nano-Russia.”  But Sergei Markedonov, a Caucasus specialist at the Institute for Political and Military Analysis in Moscow, said the agreement was a real achievement for Abkhazia, which has actively sought alliances with countries other than Russia. Asked about the reported payment to Nauru, he answered, “If no one paid, why would they come?”  “There is no question of morality here,” Mr. Markedonov said. “It’s the smallest country in the world. It has no potential, just to trade in independence. Independence is a commodity  people will trade it.”
Facing depletion of its main resource, phosphates, Nauru is only the fourth nation to recognize the region, which separated from Georgia.