South Osetia To Become Russian Federation Member

The people of South Osetia want their republic to become a full member of Russia

The South Osetia republic is intended to become a part of the Russian Federation, the president of the unrecognized republic said. "As the head of the state, I addressed to the Russian president with a request to let South Osetia become a member of the Russian Federation," S.Osetian President Eduard Kokoity was quoted by Interfax as saying.

The president said that he had based his statement on the results of the referendum of 1992, when people expressed their wish to join Russia. "All the documents to prove the historical and the political choice of the people of South Osetia have already been sent to the Russian president," Kokoity said.

The period in 1992 was the time when the conflict between the republics of Georgia and Osetia was in full swing. The Osetian president referred to the referendum, when 99 percent of the population voted for South Osetia's membership in the Russian Federation. The question is still open, though. At present, South Osetia is a legal autonomous region within the republic of Georgia, although it runs the policy that does not depend on Georgia. There are about 30,000 Russian people living in South Osetia now.

The head of the unrecognized republic also said, 56 percent of South Osetia citizens hold the Russian citizenship, whereas the rest of the population apply to obtain it. "Nobody is making people do so. This is an expression of the nation to be close to their brothers and sisters, to be close to North Osetia, Kabardino-Balkariya, the Stavropol region," the Osetian president said.

President Kokoity has recently arrived in the city of Nalchik, the Kabardino-Balkariya republic, to sign the friendship and cooperation treaty between South Osetia and Kabardino-Balkaria. Valery Kokov, Balkaria's President, said at a press conference, the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia (a part of the Georgia republic of) is also supposed to become an associated, and then a full member of the Russian Federation.

On the picture: The flag of South Osetia