Lavrov Says Russia to Help De Facto S.Ossetia to Protect Its “Sovereignty”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia respects the “sovereignty” of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia and will support the “republic" to protect its independence.

Lavrov made the statement at a panel discussion dubbed Global Politics and Its Agenda: How to Protect The World, held on the sidelines of the World Festival of Youth and Students.

The information was released by the Russian news agency Tass.

Lavrov added that Russia recognized South Ossetia as an independent state in 2008.

"Russian peacekeepers and army were directly involved in preventing then Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili from resolving the so-called ‘territorial dispute’ by force, violating the decisions made by the OSCE and ignoring the fact that Russian and Ossetian peacekeepers were deployed there, along with Georgian ones, though they had been pulled out of the area several hours before the aggression started," Tass quoted Russian minister.

By Thea Morrison