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Russian Duma to review call to recognize 1920 South Ossetia genocide — speaker

The Parliament of South Ossetia stated the 1920 events "were not appropriately assessed, the masterminds and those behind the genocide of South Ossetians were not held accountable"

MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/. Chairman of the State Duma (Russian Parliament’s lower chamber) Vyacheslav Volodin has announced that as soon as the South Ossetia’s Parliament submits an appeal to the Duma to recognize the genocide of the South Ossetians in 1920 by Georgia, the document will be reviewed at the next Duma Council meeting.

"The State Duma has taken careful note of the South Ossetian Parliament’s statement to recognize the Georgian genocide of South Ossetians in 1920. The next scheduled Duma Council meeting, which involves the Duma leadership, leaders of all political factions and committee chairs, will review this appeal," the speaker told reporters on Wednesday.

South Ossetian parliamentarians have sent the appeal to officially acknowledge Georgian nationalists’ genocide of South Ossetians in 1920 to the Russian leadership, the State Duma and the Federation Council (upper house), the Parliament’s website reads. The statement specifies that "the 1920 events were not appropriately assessed, the masterminds and those behind the genocide of South Ossetians were not held accountable."

After South Ossetia declared its right for self-determination and ascension to the Soviet Russia, "the Georgian government sent their units to suppress South Ossetia" in June 1920, the statement points out. According to it, "the Georgian troops eliminated most of the residential communities in South Ossetia." "Several thousand people were killed, which was between 8 and 25% of the whole population, according to different assessments."

In 1989-1992, Georgia "again attempted ethnic cleansings against the Ossetian people, but the Russian interference in 2008, which forced Georgia to [declare] peace, prevented the people of South Ossetia from being completely wiped out," the appeal says.