MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. The Russian State Duma lower house of parliament ratified on Friday an agreement on state border with South Ossetia, signed in Moscow on February 18, 2015.

"The treaty is a basic document that defines the passing of the state border between the two countries along the entire length, from the western point of junction of the state borders of Russia, South Ossetia and Georgia to the eastern point where the state borders of Russia, South Ossetia and Georgia join," the letter of comments said. It also said their locations are to be determined by separate trilateral agreements.

Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said the ratification would make it possible to make international-legal formalization of the border and start its demarcation.

The head of the State Duma committee for CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and ties with compatriots, Leonid Slutsky, said the sides would set up a joint Russian-South Ossetian demarcation commission.

On August 8, 2008, Georgian forces attacked the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia sent its forces into the region to protect the citizens of South Ossetia, many of whom held Russian passports, and expelled the Georgian forces. Russia then recognized the independence of Abkhazia, another breakaway region, and South Ossetia, after which Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with it.