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South Ossetia has legal grounds to join Russia — parliament speaker

Alan Tadtayev noted that since 1774, when Ossetia joined Russia, there haven’t been a single document declaring its secession from Russia

TSKHINVAL, March 30. /TASS/. South Ossetia has all the necessary legal grounds to join Russia, Alan Tadtayev, South Ossetian parliament speaker, told TASS on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov said the country will take legal steps for joining the Russia in the near future.

"South Ossetia chose the path of independence for itself at the cost of very big losses and very big inconveniences, we all know that," Tadtayev said. "It achieved independence and its recognition by the Russian Federation in 2008."

"South Ossetia has all the legal grounds to join the Russian Federation," he continued.

He stated that the referendums, which have been held in South Ossetia, warrant the statement that "the people of South Ossetia have always been with Russia and aspire to join the Russian Federation."

Tadtayev also noted that since 1774, when Ossetia joined Russia, there haven’t been a single document declaring its secession from Russia.

"There hasn’t been a single document since 1774 whereby South Ossetia seceded from the Russian Federation as some separate entity or territory," the lawmaker said. "This must also be taken into account."

"We know that the first ambassadors from Ossetia, a united Ossetia, went to the capital of Russia, and then Russia took United Ossetia, as one political entity, under its wing," he went on to say. "And afterward there hasn’t been a single document that could prove to us that South Ossetia seceded from Russia."

Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on August 26, 2008 after Georgia’s armed aggression against Tskhinval. The leaders of Russia have said more than once that the recognition of independence of these two former autonomies of Georgia reflected the existing realities and was not subject to revision. Tbilisi has refused to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to this day.

South Ossetia’s Central Election Commission on March 15 completed the registration of presidential candidates. In the April 10 presidential election the position of the head of state will be contested by the incumbent, Anatoly Bibilov, the deputy speaker of the country’s parliament, Alexander Pliyev, the leader of the political party Nykhaz, Ruslan Gagloyev, parliament member Garry Muldarov and former parliament member Dmitry Tasoyev. Bibilov was elected president in April 2017. Previously, he had held the position of parliamentary speaker starting from June 2014.

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