The license plate serial format consists of a letter followed by three digits and then two more letters. The letters are Cyrillic, but only thirteen letters reminiscent of letters of the Latin alphabet are used: А, Б, В, Е, К, М, Н, О, Р, С, Т, У, and Х.
In the territory controlled by the government of Georgia (before 2008), the Georgian license plates were issued. Since 2004, cars with Georgian plates are prohibited in Abkhazia, as are Abkhazian plates in mainland Georgia. Cross-border travel is therefore only possible with Russian, Armenian, or Azeri plates.