Kremlin distances itself from referendum in South Ossetia

Russia is not taking any steps to annex South Ossetia, and the very formulation of the issue submitted to the referendum on the republic’s accession needs to be finalized from the legal point of view, announces Russian presidential secretary Dmitry Peskov.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 13, Anatoly Bibilov, then president of South Ossetia, signed a decree on holding a referendum on July 17 on the issue of joining Russia.

According to Russian presidential secretary Dmitry Peskov, the Russian authorities have no plans to take any steps to annex South Ossetia. “I have already spoken on the topic and I will repeat once again that no steps have been taken or planned by the Russian side in the case and in this regard,” the “RIA Novosti” quotes today Dmitry Peskov as saying.

The Russian presidential secretary has also noted that the authorities of South Ossetia should finalize the formulation of the issue submitted to the referendum. “If we understand correctly, the question for the referendum is legally formulated as the unification of the Republic of South Ossetia and Russia. That is, legally this is such a kind of incident, because if we talk of the unification that means the creation of a third state, which is of course impossible. They should think over the legal formulation of the issue,” emphasized Dmitry Peskov as quoted today by the TASS.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 24, 2022 at 01:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.