TSKHINVAL, February 10. /TASS/. The issue on South Ossetia’s possible joining Russia has been delayed until the republic holds presidential elections in April 2017, South Ossetia’s President Leonid Tibilov said in an exclusive interview with TASS.
"Last year, we agreed on a scheme that would allow us to make a proposal to the Russian leadership on the accession," Tibilov said. "This is an inner state process. I put forward a proposal on amending Article 10 of our Constitution, but then various conflicting views about the procedures emerged and as a president, I came to a conclusion that the issue should be discussed in detail by a political council.
"At the political council, we took a decision to reconsider this issue after the 2017 elections. We have time for work with our Russian colleagues, and Moscow knows our ideas," he added.
The idea on joining Russia was not put forward by anyone, Tibilov said, stressing that all citizens of South Ossetia seek rapprochement with Moscow. "Already to today we can say that we are in a single economic, political and media space with Russia."
Tskhinval also knows that there are "serious issues" on the path towards joining Russia that need to be considered. "We should not create any difficulties for our Russian colleagues," he stressed.
Last year, South Ossetia decided to hold a referendum on the possible accession to Russia. However, later the decision was postponed. It was expected that the referendum could be held in 2017.