OSCE calls on Russia to stop recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
The General Committee on Political Affairs and Security of Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) adopted the Georgian resolution calling on Russia to cancel the decision to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Fifty representatives of national delegations supported the document, five opposed and nine representatives abstained, reports TASS news agency.
The author of the resolution is Sofio Katsarava, a member of the Georgian Parliament. In this document, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are called as the "occupied territories of Georgia," and it is alleged that violations of human rights and discrimination on ethnic grounds are taking place there. The text also includes a request for the admission of international human rights defenders to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Tbilisi severed diplomatic relations with Moscow in August 2008 after Russia recognized the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia - the two autonomous regions that were part of Georgia and sought independence from it even before the collapse of the USSR. The European Union also does not recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, declaring support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia.
The legal status of South Ossetia as an independent republic was recognized by only five states - Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Tuvalu.
In March 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the unrecognized South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov, signed an agreement on cooperation and integration. In March 2017, the Russian government approved an agreement on the inclusion of the military of South Ossetia in the Russian army.