The leader of the separatist region, Anatoly Bibilov, said in a statement on Wednesday that the region “will begin a legal process to become part of Russia.”
According to observers, this decision would renew the crisis between Russia and Georgia and bring to mind the war between them in 2008.
Organizing a referendum to join
After Anatoly Bibilov announced his request for union with Russia, the South Ossetian parliament announced that it would organize a referendum on joining Moscow as soon as possible.
Andrei Klimov, deputy head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council, responded, “There is no legal obstacle to South Ossetia’s accession to Russia, and Russian legislation includes necessary measures for this.”
Klimov adds: “All that is required to realize the dream of the Ossetian people is their expression of their will through a popular referendum that they organize,” according to the Russian “TASS” agency.
American response
The US State Department responded, on Friday, that the United States would not recognize the accession of South Ossetia to Russia in the event that happened, stressing that it considers it part of the territory of Georgia.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said that “the local authorities or Russia do not have the powers to decide the fate of South Ossetia, which is part of Georgia.”
He added that his country would not recognize Russia’s “attempts to divide the sovereign territory of Georgia,” noting that Washington had refused to recognize the accession of Crimea to Russia and the declaration of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk peoples from Ukraine.
As for Moscow, it said: “We respect the opinion of the people of South Ossetia, but we have not taken any action regarding the referendum on joining Russia.”
“The Kremlin considers the idea of holding a referendum in South Ossetia on its accession to Russia an expression of popular opinion,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov added, according to the Russian “TASS” news agency.
Commenting on the Russian military expert Andrei Olsky, “Georgia seems to understand Russia’s position on the war in Ukraine, so it refrained from imposing sanctions,” according to him, stressing that “the 2008 war in Georgia came after Tbilisi’s intervention in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the bombing of peacekeeping forces.” Russia, which made the Russian army intervene to force Georgia to peace.”
He added to “Sky News Arabia”: “There is an improvement in relations between the two countries, because Georgia and Russia have historical relations and extended roots between the two peoples,” adding: “It seems that the experience of the Soviet Union and the two countries remaining under its umbrella for 70 years still have positive effects and affect present of the two countries.
Ostita’s story
South Ossetia and Abkhazia are two regions in the Caucasus that broke away from Georgia, the former Soviet republic.
The region and Abkhazia do not have any international legitimacy, as Georgia insists that they are part of its territory, and the European Union and the United States share the position, and the United Nations does not recognize the two countries.
Historically, its story dates back to 1978, when Russia seized the whole of Ossetia, and it was divided after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 into two entities, annexing the North to Russia and the South to Georgia.
In 1991, South Ossetia seceded from Georgia, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in a move that Georgia did not recognize, and the same is the case with Abkhazia.
Russia recognized their independence in August 2008 after a lightning war between Tbilisi and Moscow, and since this conflict, Russian forces have been stationed permanently in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russia’s support in the Ukraine war
In the midst of the current Russian military operation in Ukraine, the South Ossetian authorities sent, last Saturday, a group of military personnel to participate in the fighting.
The leader of South Ossetia, Anatoly Bibilov, published a video clip showing a column of buses and vehicles carrying military personnel heading to Ukraine.
Bibilov said that these soldiers “are well aware that they are going to defend Russia and Ossetia, to eliminate fascism, to prevent its emergence against our homeland.”
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