South Ossetia breakaway territory in Georgia wants to be annexed to Russia

“I believe that the merger with Russia is our strategic goal. This is the way and the will of our people, and we will follow this path,” said Anatoly Bibilov, leader of South Ossetia. , said on March 30. “We will take the appropriate legal steps in the near future. The Republic of South Ossetia will be part of the historical motherland of Russia.”

The leader of South Ossetia also announced that this self-proclaimed “republic” would quickly hold a referendum on annexation to Russia. “This won’t be too difficult to do quickly. This is just a technical problem,” Bibilov said, according to Russia Today.

South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov. Photo: Reuters

The announcement came not long after the leader of the breakaway regions in the eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions also said they would soon hold a “referendum” on the possibility of joining Russia. Commenting on this, Moscow officials said that it is not appropriate for the two regions to want to be merged into Russia in the current context. Meanwhile, Ukraine warned that any referendums in Lugansk and Donetsk would be considered illegal.

South Ossetia once declared independence from Georgia – Russia’s neighbor to the southwest, in December 1991, and established a self-proclaimed republic. In 2008, Russia officially recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway territory in Georgia, Abkhazia, after an armed conflict with its neighbour.

However, the Abkhazian leadership insists they have no intention of following South Ossetia. “Abkhazia’s constitution clearly defines us as an independent state,” declared Valery Kvarchya, the head of Abkhazia’s legislature. “Russia is our strategic partner, close nation and brother, but our republic has no plans to join the Russian Federation.”

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