MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) The self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia will continue to seek legal restraints to prevent Georgia from using force in bilateral affairs, South Ossetian Acting Foreign Minister Dmitry Medoev said on Monday.
"South Ossetia will continue to insist on the need for Georgia to sign a binding document that would exclude the use of force in international affairs and bilateral relations," Medoev said at the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The South Ossetian minister said his country would continue to cooperate with the Geneva International Discussions on Security and Stability in the South Caucasus, even though the format got disrupted during 2020 due to the pandemic.
"The questions of security and non-resumption of confrontation and military aggression are especially relevant for us after the war in Nagorno-Karabakh," Medoev said.
South Ossetia, along with another breakaway region, Abkhazia, declared independence from Georgia in August 2008 following an offensive of the Georgian army. The South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali was bombed, and a massive civilian flight from the region took place throughout the summer of that year.
Russia has backed South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where the majority of population held Russian citizenship. Other countries that have recognized the self-proclaimed republics include Nauru, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Georgia never recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and continues to consider them an occupied part of its own territory.
