The referendum on joining Russia that the former leader of Georgia’s of South Ossetia had scheduled for July 17 has been scrapped on Monday by the new leader of the breakaway region.
Invoking uncertainty of the legal consequences of the issue submitted to a referendum, Alan Gagloev, president of the Moscow-controlled enclave, issued a decree on Monday ordering – without delay – consultations with Russia on the entire range of issues related to South Ossetia’s further integration in the Federation.
Gagloev also stressed in the decree the inadmissibility of a unilateral decision of a referendum on issues affecting Russia’s legitimate rights and interests.
Gagloev’s predecessor, Anatoly Bibilov, lost his bid for re-election earlier this month after signing on May 13 a decree on holding the referendum on July 17, citing South Ossetia’s historic aspiration to join Russian Federation.
Though Tbilisi has previously denounced South Ossetia’s to hold a referendum on joining Russia, Moscow has expressed hope that Gagloev will preserve the continuity in maintaining the ties with the Federation.
Moscow recognized South Ossetia, which was at the center of the five days Russian-Georgian war in August 2008, as an independent state and stationed military bases there. It also recognized the independence of Abkhazia, another separatist region, which has since remained under Russia’s military control.
The war, which claimed more than 700 lives and displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians, ended with a ceasefire mediated by the European Union and tamed Tbilisi’s staunchly pro-Western bid to join the EU and NATO.
The announcement comes in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – where Donetsk and Lugansk breakaway regions backed by Moscow have also expressed interest in joining Russia – that has sparked an immense wave of solidarity in Georgia.
After the European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that Russia was responsible for human rights violations in the Georgia war’s aftermath, Hague-based International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan applied in March for arrest warrants for three current and former South Ossetian officials in connection with war crimes committed against ethnic Georgians.
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