Moscow [Russia], August 23: Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow could annex two breakaway regions in Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"The idea of joining Russia is still popular in Abkhazia and South Ossetia . It is entirely possible if there is a good reason," Medvedev wrote in an article published in the morning by the Russian weekly Argumenty I Fakty . as early as August 23, according to Reuters.
In March 2022, South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov announced that he would take legal actions to become Russian territory in the near future, according to TASS news agency.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared their independence from Georgia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Since then, Georgia has been increasingly leaning towards the West and has always resisted the secessionist tendencies of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and at the same time granted only two territories on autonomous status.
In 2008, after a brief war with Georgia, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent republics and maintained a peacekeeping force there.
Although Russia's relations with Georgia have improved since then, Medvedev accused the West of creating tension across the country when discussing the possibility of NATO taking over Georgia.
"We will not wait if our concerns become closer to reality," Medvedev said in the article, referring to the possibility of a merger.
Georgia officials have repeatedly said that they are determined to join NATO in order to protect the country's territorial integrity, according to Reuters.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper
