De facto Tskhinvali sends draft agreement to Moscow

De facto leaders of Georgia’s breakaway Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) have sent a draft treaty on alliance and integration between Moscow and Tskhinvali to Russia.

De facto President of Tskhinvali region Leonid Tibilov said: "The joint work group of South Ossetia and Russia has completed working on the draft agreement and the document has been sent to Moscow”.

The Tskhinvali region is a Russian-occupied region in northeast Georgia. The self-proclaimed region was recognised as independent by Russia following the five-day Russia-Georgia war in the summer of 2008.

The deal between Russia and Tskhinvali comes not long after Moscow signed an Alliance and Strategic Partnership deal with Georgia’s other breakaway region Abkhazia in late November, 2014. At the time Tskhinvali’s de facto leader expressed interest in signing a similar agreement with Russia.

The draft agreement between the Tskhinvali region and Russia, which was assessed as "a violation of international law” by the global community, was comprised of 15 paragraphs.

The draft agreement with South Ossetia outlined much deeper integration of the breakaway region with Russia than the one signed between Moscow and Sokhumi. In particular, it outlined defence, security, law enforcement and customs agencies of the breakaway region should become part of relevant ministries and agencies of the Russian Federation.

However the border crossing point at Roki tunnel, which links the breakaway region with Russia, will be removed.

Once the document was signed, people living in the both occupied regions are expected to receive Russian passports.

Tbilisi assessed this move as "Russia’s annexation of the Georgian regions” and called on the international community to properly react to this "violation”.