Controversy Over Abkhazian and South Ossetian Independence - As A Precedent in Other Disputes

As A Precedent in Other Disputes

Оn September 18, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov summarised and explained Russia's position in relation to the other two frozen conflicts in the former Soviet Union, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, both de facto independent republics seeking international recognition. Also, officials of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus claim that, Kosovo's road to independence is a good example that strengthens TRNC's thesis(right of self-determination)

"Russia will actively contribute to the peaceful solutions of all conflicts in the CIS on the basis of international law, respect for all principles of the United Nations Charter previously reached by agreement, in the search of agreement between the sides involved in the conflict. We will responsibly carry out our intermediary mission in the negotiation process, this in full measure concerns Pridnestrovia and Nagorno Karabakh. Everywhere has its own peculiarities, its formats and mechanisms of mediation. But the South Ossetian crisis does not create a precedent for them."

He went on to give the following explanation for this position:

"Of those who are engaged in the regulation of Nagorno Karabakh and Pridnestrovie, none of them plan to violate international law, break off the existing agreements, violate the agreed format of regulation, bomb civilians and peacekeepers. There is no one there who would want to guarantee territorial integrity by means of the mass murder of people who they consider their own citizens, residents of their own country. There are no parallels possible. Thank God, Saakashvili is a one-of-a-kind phenomenon."