MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. There is a legal hiccup in the question of South Ossetia’s referendum on accession to Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted.
"There is a legal mishap in the formulation of the question on unification, the way that it was put. So efforts are needed to figure it all out. Russia just can’t unite with anyone," Peskov pointed out.
The Kremlin spokesman explained that if Russia united with anyone, a completely new entity would come to be. "That said, there is a legal mishap. Our colleagues need to make up their mind and sort things out here by themselves," Peskov stressed.
Head of the South Ossetian Presidential Administration Alan Dzhioyev stated that former President Anatoly Bibilov had ordered a referendum on joining Russia without an agreement with Moscow, violating a cooperation accord between South Ossetia and Russia.
On May 13, South Ossetia’s Central Election Commission approved a package of documents on a referendum for the republic’s accession to Russia and handed it over to then President Bibilov who issued a decree setting the vote for July 17.
On March 30, Bibilov stated that South Ossetia would take legal steps to join Russia. Alan Gagloyev, who later won South Ossetia’s presidential election, said in an interview with TASS that a referendum might be held once Moscow signaled that the time had come for such a move.