Russian political analysts treat South-Ossetian referendum as unfavourable for Kremlin

Russian leadership will gain no political benefits from the referendum in South Ossetia; besides, Russia would not escalate its relations with Georgia now, the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 13 the president of South Ossetia signed a decree on holding a referendum on the republic's accession to Russia. On May 24, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President, said that from the legal viewpoint, the formulation of the question to be submitted to the referendum needs to be edited. On May 30, the incumbent head of South Ossetia, Alan Gagloev, suspended the referendum decree until consultations with the Russian Federation.

The issue of holding a referendum on South Ossetia's accession to the Russian Federation is raised with every presidential election held there, Alexander Kynev, a political analyst, has noted.

He believes that the referendum has no benefits for the Kremlin. "The Kremlin has nothing to do with it. There is no need to speculate; it needs no referendum at all. Only Bibilov needed it. But he is no longer president. The referendum will bring no political and image benefits to the Russian leadership," Mr Kynev has concluded.

Evgeny Minchenko, a political consultant, also believes that the referendum in South Ossetia is unfavourable for Russia at the moment.

"Georgia behaves as correctly and restrainedly as possible given the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation and, in general, the Russia's confrontation with the West. In view of this situation, it is not productive to create an irritating factor," Mr Minchenko told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his story, South Ossetia is already de facto integrated into Russia economically and socially; it lives on the funds of the Russian budget. "And it's hardly worth 'driving horses' on the accession issue.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 25, 2022 at 02:52 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.