Russian-Ossetian treaty is to be signed on February 18
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, February 17
South Ossetia’s de-facto government is going to sign a state border agreement with Russia on February 18, the news agency RES reports.
According to RES, South Ossetia’s de-facto Foreign Minister David Sanakoev plans to visit Moscow next week, where he will hold several meetings to discuss a number of issues, including bilateral cooperation with Russia, regional developments and the establishment of a Joint Training and Evaluation Centre in Georgia.
“We will talk about NATO's interests in Georgia. The establishment of this Joint Training and Evaluation Centre in Georgia will have an influence on stability. We will take all appropriate measures if necessary,” David Sanakoev said.
Since signing an agreement on Alliance and Partnership with Abkhazia, Russia now intends to sign the same type of a document with the Tskhinvali region.
It has been revealed that cooperation will be deeper with regard to the latter, as Tskhinvali has requested to be part of Russia.
The Georgian government is appealing to the international community to keep alert and respond to this latest development. However, NATO officials state that they have no levers to hinder the process.
According to a draft of the agreement between Russia and South Ossetia, the de-facto region’s defense, security and law-enforcement structures will merge with the same bodies of Russia. The checkpoint at Roki tunnel, connecting the Tskhinvali region with Russia will be closed as well.
Tbilisi officials state that any form of cooperation between the de-facto regions and Russia is an aggressive attempt to annex Georgian territory and asks for international support.
