Belarus can consider recognitions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2009

The Belarusian parliament can consider the issue of recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2009. Sergey Maskevich, head of the parliamentary commission for international matters and relations with the CIS, has expressed this opinion today.

The Belarusian party is not in a hurry with this recognition. "Hardly should we hasten, however, there's no reason for delay either. If we don't cope with the issue before the New Year, I won't see it as a tragedy. It just means that it'll take place next year," Sergey Maskevich, head of the parliamentary commission for international matters and relations with the CIS, said in his interview to the "Time of News" paper published today.

"Literally one of these days, I received an application from South Ossetia, while Abkhazia had officially addressed our parliament earlier," he explained. According to Mr Maskevich, "none of the bodies of power will solve this issue independently." Such essential decision like recognition of independence "should be made with account of the spirits in the society," the head of the commission believes, as the ITAR-TASS reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 15 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko expressed his surprise that western countries had not yet recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. As he said, the situation with these republics is similar to the one with Kosovo.