tskhinvali

Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The de facto South Ossetian government on June 18 recognized the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic.

The Lugansk republic, comprising a land area in the southeast of Ukraine, was established on April 27 after a referendum held on May 11.

South Ossetia is so far the only body which has recognized the new Lugansk mini-state, which June 14 appealed to Georgia’s breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Armenia, Belarus, Chechnya, China, Cuba, Ingushetia, Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Transnistria and Venezuela for recognition.


Leonid Tibilov, de facto president of South Ossetia, Wednesday signed a decree recognizing Lugansk People’s Republic.

The decree says that it is a response to an appeal and taking into account ‘the will of the people’ of Ossetia that he recognized Lugansk as an independent state.

According to news agency Res, the de facto Foreign Ministry is instructed to hold negotiations and sign a treaty establishing diplomatic relations with Lugansk People’s Republic.

94 percent supported the independence of Lugansk People’s Republic in referendum conducted on May 11. The Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine declared Lugansk People’s Republic a terrorist organization, as well as Donetsk People’s Republic, which also held a referendum the same day.

South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s, but for long failed to achieve recognition by any UN member countries. After the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, which started in South Ossetia, it was recognized by a handful of countries, including Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.