The procedures of granting Russia’s citizenship to South Ossetia’s nationals will be simplified
TSKHINVAL, May 29. /TASS/. Russia and South Ossetia plan to sign around 10 additional agreements as part of the Treaty on Allied Relations and Integration, South Ossetia’s President Leonid Tibilov said in an exclusive interview with TASS.
The leader of South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and was recognized by Russia in 2008, said this is a framework treaty that envisages additional work on practically all the directions.
“This refers to around a dozen additional agreements: on military and political issues, issues of free crossing of border and by the way, some restrictions will be here related to the aspects of complying with security measures,” he said.
In particular, the sides plan to sign agreements related to the cooperation with the state security committee, the Interior Ministry and customs services, the South Ossetian president said.
Under the treaty, the procedures of granting Russia’s citizenship to South Ossetia’s nationals will be simplified. “Issues will be worked out related to education and medicine,” he added.
“The allotted time is around six months after the ratification,” Tibilov explained.
During this time, the order should be defined for certain agencies of South Ossetia’s Defense Ministry and state security bodies to join the respective bodies of Russia. A joint coordination center as part of the Interior Ministry is due to be established and will be tasked with collecting data.
“So there is a common understanding on cooperation and we need to describe how this will be implemented,” Tibilov said. “We have taken a decision on the working groups and the effort is already underway,” he said.
Russia and South Ossetia signed the Treaty on Allied Relations and Integration in late March 2015.
Moscow recognized as independent two Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The recognition followed Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia that entailed Russia’s peacemaking operation in August 2008.