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Belarus to recognise Abkhazia, South Ossetia soon: diplomat
Russia News.Net
Thursday 28th August, 2008 (IANS)
Moscow, Aug 28 (Xinhua) Belarus will recognise the independence of breakaway Georgian regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in the next day or two, the country's envoy to Russia Vasily Dolgolev said Thursday.
'We are allies and this says it all,' Dolgolev told journalists when asked whether Belarus would recognise the independence of the two regions.
President Aleksandr Lukashenko will make a relevant statement late Thursday or Friday, the ambassador added.
'Belarus favours peaceful means. We cannot support the aggression unleashed by Georgia. I think what Russia did was right,' the diplomat was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Lukashenko Thursday sent a message to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, saying his country remained a reliable ally of Russia.
The Belarusian president also called for the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to find a common stance on the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
'Under the circumstances Russia had no other moral choice but to support appeals of South Ossetian and Abkhazian peoples on the recognition of their right for self-determination in line with fundamental international documents,' Lukashenko said in the message, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke from Georgian rule during wars in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but their self-proclaimed independence is not recognised internationally.
On Tuesday, Medvedev signed a decree formally recognising the two Georgian breakaway regions as independent states.
No country has followed suit in spite of Medvedev's call.
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