Comments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia on the statement adopted at the NATO summit in Chicago

In a statement issued after the NATO Summit in Chicago on May 21, 2012, the member states of NATO, supporting Georgia's aspirations to join NATO called on Russia "to deny its recognition of the Georgian regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states and to reduce the Russian military presence in these regions."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia considers the document, which was clearly planned for the Georgian audience expectations, to be obviously biased orientated. As you know, South Ossetia is not 'a region of Georgia, "and only through the interference of Russia in August 2008, the people of South Ossetia was rescued from complete extermination during the perfidious military attack of Georgia against South Ossetia.

The security of South Ossetia is guaranteed by the Russian Federation on the basis of bilateral agreements for nearly four years. South Ossetian people express their boundless gratitude to the Russian Federation, but the opinion of the people, as we see, provokes little interest in the summit participants.

If the Alliance is seriously interested in stabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus, the implementation of appropriate work with the Saakashvili regime, namely the signing of the document on nonuse of force by Georgia against South Ossetia, would be certainly useful. Military aggression in August 2008 was made possible not without the help and support of the Allies. It is time for all to work within the existing modern realities, and they are the following: two new states – the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia appeared on the map of the South Caucasus in accordance with all international norms.

Those who take liberties with international law must think twice before stepping on a slippery slope that can be fraught with unpredictable consequences, and will not add to stability in the region but provoke new tensions.

Tskhinval, 24 May 2012

30.08.2012