South Ossetia and Abkhazia Are Welcome to Join the Union State

In an exclusive interview with the correspondent of www.soyuz.by, Tatiana Moskalkova, deputy of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly and State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, favourably commented upon the decision of the President of Belarus to reconsider the issue of official recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In an exclusive interview with the correspondent of www.soyuz.by, Tatiana Moskalkova, deputy of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly and State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, favourably commented upon the decision of the President of Belarus to reconsider the issue of official recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Tatiana Moskalkova noted that “if the republic of Belarus recognizes South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it will be regarded, of course, as a positive action aimed to beef up relations with Russia and form the Union State. If these republics are recognized, they will be welcomed to join the Union State”.

The union deputy stressed that “in order to join the Union State, one should be internationally recognized. At present, South Ossetia and Abkhazia as well as Kosovo are in the stage of being officially recognized as independent states”. According to Tatiana Moskalkova “all historic circumstances are favourable for these republics to be recognized as independent ones”: “In 1801 South Ossetia joined the Russian Empire and in 1810 Abkhazia did the same. In the time of the Soviet Union, proceeding from utilitarian considerations they were appended to Georgia. As at that time everything was united, it was decided to enlarge Georgia so as to ease budget allocation”.

The deputy also reported about the efforts initiated by Russia with the purpose to settle the situation in the Caucasus: “In 1991 these republics (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) unlike Georgia joined the CIS. In compliance with the agreement of that time the states were to be left within their USSR borders and Russia had been discharging its obligations for 17 years. Russia had been carrying on an active dialogue with Georgia and offered to establish special relations with these territories as well as to resolve the ethnic conflict. There emerged a situation when 90% of people residing in South Ossetia and Abkhazia made a decision to obtain Russian citizenship. Thus, Russia is obliged to take all protective measures both social and physical in order to defend its citizens. In Russian constitution there is a clause which binds the state to protect its citizens who live beyond the borders of the country, there is also a law on protection of the citizens living abroad. That is why, leaders of the CIS countries who know the background of this problem should back up Russia”.