Russia sees no preconditions for South Ossetia to join Russia, Dmitry Medvedev asserts

There are no legal or factual preconditions for the merger of South and North Ossetia and for South Ossetia's entry into Russian state's structure. This was announced today by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in his interview to the Georgian and Russian journalists in Sochi.

"It is impossible to anticipate what will be in the future; however, if we talk about the current situation, there are no legal or factual preconditions for this," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Dmitry Medvedev as saying.

Furthermore, in the interview to the Georgian TV Channel "First Information Caucasian", the Russian TV Channel " Russia Today" and the broadcasting station "Ekho Moskvy" (Echo of Moscow) on the eve of a three-year anniversary of the Russian-Georgian conflict, Mr Medvedev defined a potential "point of contact" with the current Georgian leadership. He sees this point of contact in a compromise in the issue on Russia's accession to the WTO.

According to the Russian President, Russia has all chances to join the WTO before the end of this year. "If under the guise of accession to the WTO the changes to the political realities are being pushed through, then we certainly will not agree and here even the WTO is not worth the price that can be paid," the "Gazeta.ru" quotes Mr Medvedev as saying.

Let us remind you that till now Georgia blocked Russia's accession to the WTO.

The Georgian side stipulates an access of its observers to customs checkpoints in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be the main condition for the negotiations with Russia on the WTO issue.