Heads of South Ossetian and Abkhazian parliaments believe that official Minsk would recognize them

• 16.12.2008, 11:49

Heads of the South Ossetian and Abkhazian parliaments Znaur Gassiev and Nuzgar Ashuba hope that the issue of the break-away republic’s recognition is to be considered by the “parliament” of Belarus.

They also expect the independence issue to be considered by the parliamentary assembly of Belarus and Russia, though not on the 25th session held in Minsk today, Interfax informs.

“In all probability, this question won’t be introduced for debate at this session,” stated Z. Gassiev, answering questions of journalists. At the same time he noted that “if we were not counting on this [recognition], what would we do there? We have things to do at home”. In his turn, N. Ashuba expressed confidence that “sooner or later the recognition would take place, and we would be very happy about that”.

Speaking about the dependence of the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s recognition and relations of Belarus with Europe, N. Ashuba noted that “Belarus has its interests both in the West and in the East”. “Nobody is in a hurry, we have chosen this path not for a year or two but forever. The Soviet Union wasn’t recognized for 20 or 30 by some countries,” he added. N. Ashuba is convinced that this process “cannot be reversed.” Answering the question about the countries from which recognition is expected he noted that they include Belarus and some CIS countries.

Heads of the parliaments of the South Ossetia and Abkhazia are attending the session of the parliamentary assembly as observers.

Speaking about their interest in joining the “union state”, N. Ashuba underlined that it could help to ensure citizens’ security.