South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity (left) with chief of the Russian presidential staff Sergey Naryshkin
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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South Ossetia May Intend to Join RF
South Ossetia intends to become part of Russia, the republic’s president, Eduard Kokoity, told the international Valdai Club. “We do not intend to make an independent Ossetia,” Kokoity said. Rather, he explained, South Ossetia will unite with North Ossetia. Kokoity stated that the West promised to recognize an independent Tskhinvali, if an independent Ossetia was created from the North, which is part of Russia, and the South.
“Western experts, political scientists, proposed that we convince North Ossetia to secede from Russia. They promised recognition before Kosovo,” Kokoity said. He did not answer a foreign journalist’s question about how long South Ossetia would be able to remain independent, preferring to say that the most important thing for North and South Ossetia is the restoration of historical justice.
“It is more a humanitarian problem than a political problem,” Kokoity said, adding that the unification of North and South Ossetia is the only way to preserve the nation. “I would be very glad if we were part of Russia,” he said.
Later, according to the Interfax information agency, Kokoity contradicted himself and stated that South Ossetia will remain independent. A number of South Ossetian officials have said that the republic will become part of Russia within several years.
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