Those lands were part of the Georgian state prior to Stalin and the soviet invasion. It's true that the Soviets initiated mass colonization of Abkhazia by Georgians (and Armenians, Russians, others as well). But by the early 90's, most Georgians in Abkhazia were born there... they had roots there. They didn't deserve to all be expelled and lose everything in their lives.

And I think the same about what the Soviets did to East German civilians east of the Oder river. They didn't deserve it either. Nazi party members should have been punished, not normal people.

Russia gave a lot of support to Abkhaz rebels in the 90's, and in a ''Russian collapse'' scenario this would not be the case. Georgian army would be better equipped than militias and would have an easier time sending large amounts of troops to Abkhazia than the various North Caucasian groups, because the latter have to first organize a common militia, break free of Russian rule, and there is also the Ossete-Ingush conflict to deal with. I don't know if it would be ''easy'' for Georgia to take and keep Abkhazia, but I expect it would be able to.

I agree that the best solution in the event of a Russian collapse would be to form a sort of Caucasian Union. However in practice it seems difficult to me. We and the Abkhaz have a lot of disputes that would need to be settled before we enter such a union. Criminals on both sides punished, expelled people return to their homes. Ossetes and Ingush have their own problems to settle, so do Armenians and Azeris. But maybe we should try.