Calling Sukhumi by way of Moscow?

Remember the controversy over Abkhazia’s Facebook designation? Well a new furor is stirring over telephone area codes.

As of November 16, Abkhazia will adopt Russian area codes for telephone service. This means than everyone trying to reach Uncle Bagrat in Gagra will have to call Russia and not Georgia.
Clearly, the Georgian government is upset. However, they keep getting a busy signal when they call to complain.

(Thanks to Scraps of Moscow for the photo.)