Conflict region South Ossetia announces referendum on joining Russia a

(dpa) South Ossetia, a conflict region in the Caucasus that has broken away from Georgia, has canceled a planned referendum on joining Russia for the time being. The refusal was justified in a decree with the “inadmissibility of a unilateral decision on a referendum on issues that also affect the legitimate rights and interests of the Russian Federation”. Moscow has repeatedly shown reluctance to join in recent weeks. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova welcomed the decision of the new South Ossetian leader Alan Gagloyev on Tuesday evening.

Such a referendum, scheduled by previous South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov, “needs careful analysis and discussion between the sides.” Bibilow, on the other hand, did not discuss his decision with Moscow. However, Russia is ready to talk with South Ossetia about ways of further integration, said Zakharova.

In an internationally unrecognized presidential election at the beginning of May, Gagloyev prevailed over Bibilov. Both had advocated a merger with the Russian Republic of North Ossetia. However, Gagloyev had described this as premature.

In Moscow, too, the step was considered untimely in view of the international pressure associated with its own war of aggression in Ukraine. Russian politicians and diplomats were correspondingly skeptical. Gagloyev wants to fly to Moscow shortly for consultations to coordinate further integration steps. Until then, the decree of his predecessor was stopped, it is said.

The region of South Ossetia, which has a population of just 50,000, broke away from Georgia in a bloody civil war in the early 1990s. In 2008, after a brief war with Georgia, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and the Black Sea region of Abkhazia. Both areas are heavily dependent on Russia politically, financially, economically and militarily. Abkhazia had stressed that it would not seek admission to the Russian Federation.