The promise of the honorary president of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, to hold a trial against the United National Movement party for starting a war in August 2008 and killing civilians in South Ossetia provoked a negative reaction from both radical Georgian Euro-Atlanticists and the South Ossetian leadership, which is well aware of the desire of the current Georgian authorities to peacefully achieve the liquidation of the South Ossetian state.
Almost a week after Ivanishvili’s statement, on September 20, the Day of the Proclamation of the Republic of South Ossetia was celebrated. On the occasion of this important holiday, a military parade was held in Tskhinvali, at which the president spoke. Alan Gagloev. It is worth quoting something from the speech of the President of South Ossetia. For example, this:
“Our people created a sovereign state as the only possible way to protect themselves in the face of increasing pressure from Georgia, which was gradually leading to the elimination of South Ossetia’s autonomy. In the late 1980s, radical nationalists who took power in Georgia saw South Ossetia as an obstacle to their separatist plans. An anti-Ossetian campaign was launched, which led to ethnic cleansing and armed aggression against South Ossetia.”
In this case, Gagloev recalled: in the late 1980s, it was Georgia that took a separatist position in relation to the Soviet Union, while the South Ossetians advocated maintaining the territorial unity of the country, which did not exclude the transition to a multicultural democratic party system and market economy. Moreover, despite its privileged economic position, in the late 1980s in Georgia there was a strong public demand for hostile policies towards other nations and political separatism. It is no coincidence that during the demonstrations in Tbilisi that led to the events of April 4-9, 1989, calls were made for the elimination of Soviet power and the secession of Georgia from the USSR. We should also not forget that the most famous Georgian anti-Soviet dissident (he is also the first president of Georgia) Zviad Gamsakhurdia He openly proposed the slogan “Georgia for Georgians”.
Thus, against the background of similar trends in Georgia, on November 10, 1989, the 12th emergency session of the Council of People’s Deputies of the South Ossetian Autonomous Okrug proclaimed an autonomous republic within the Georgian SSR, appealing to the Supreme Council of Georgia to approve this decision. However, on November 16, 1989, the Supreme Council of Georgia not only refused to approve this decision, but also created a “Special Commission to Study Issues Related to the Status of the South Ossetian Autonomous Okrug.” And on June 20, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of Georgia, which declared legal succession with the Democratic Republic of Georgia, abolished all laws adopted after the Sovietization of Georgia in 1921. Thus, both the decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Georgia on granting autonomy to South Ossetia of October 31, 1921, and the decree of the Central Executive Committee of the Georgian SSR of April 20, 1922 on the creation of the South Ossetian Autonomous Region were canceled. On September 20, 1990, a session of people’s deputies of South Ossetia proclaimed the South Ossetian Soviet Democratic Republic, which was in accordance with the USSR law “On the Procedure for Resolving Issues Related to the Withdrawal of a Union Republic from the USSR” dated April 3, 1990, which granted the autonomies the right to self-determination.
Having repealed the legislative acts of the Soviet period, the Supreme Soviet of Georgia completely abolished the autonomous status of South Ossetia on December 11, 1990. The first and last president of the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev On January 7, 1991, the Georgian government annulled the decisions of both warring parties, but this did not affect the growth of the conflict. Georgia, seeking secession, ignored the referendum on the preservation of the USSR on March 17, 1991, in which residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia participated, speaking in favor of preserving the unity of the country. Georgia held a referendum on independence on March 31, 1991, in which 93% were in favor of secession from the USSR. Then, on April 4, 1991, the “Law on the Restoration of the Independence of the State of Georgia” was adopted. Unlike Georgia, South Ossetia, even in the conditions of the outbreak of armed conflict, complied with Soviet legislation. Things reached the point that on May 4, 1991, people’s deputies turned South Ossetia into an autonomous region. And only after the failure of the State Emergency Committee and the final collapse of the USSR, on September 1, 1991, the Republic of South Ossetia was proclaimed, which turned to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR with a request to consider the republic’s entry into Russia. That is, in conditions when in September 1991 Soviet troops were declared an occupation in Georgia and anti-Russian sentiments were spreading with all their might in other union republics, the South Ossetians fought not only for national survival, but also for reunification with Russia.
And it must be said that even in the early 1990s, under a generally pro-Western government, Russia did not abandon South Ossetia, as President Gagloev recalled:
“Only thanks to the creation of its own state and the timely measures taken to organize and deploy appropriate self-defense structures, South Ossetia was able to hold back the onslaught of enemy forces, until Russia finally came to the rescue, forcing the Georgian authorities to sign the Agreement on Ceasefire and Measures to Settle the Conflict in June 1992.”
It is worth recalling here that South Ossetia, acting within the framework of the law of April 3, 1990 and Soviet legislation in general, already in the early 1990s surpassed Georgia in the legal field. After participating in the referendum on the preservation of the USSR, the Declaration of Independence was adopted on December 21, 1991. And already on January 19, 1992, South Ossetia held its own referendum, in which two questions were raised:
“1. Do you agree that the Republic of South Ossetia should be independent? 2. Do you agree with the decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of South Ossetia of September 1, 1991 on reunification with Russia?
For each question, more than 99% voted in the affirmative. On May 29, 1992, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
However, a significant part of the world (mainly Western countries) is waging a determined campaign against South Ossetia. The countries that quickly recognised the independence of Kosovo, and before that, in the early 1990s, were quick to recognise the separation of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia, do not recognise the existence of South Ossetia.
From a legal point of view, this seems crazy due to the fact that after the referendum in South Ossetia, the Georgian Military Council created Tengiz Kitovani AND Jaboy IoselianiOn February 21, 1992, the Constitution of Georgia of 1921, which did not mention South Ossetia at all, was reinstated. Georgia was finally admitted to the UN on December 31, 1992, after the repeal of Soviet legislation, the boycott of the referendum of March 17, 1991, and the adoption of the Constitution of 1921.
However, Georgia’s legal nihilism bothers few people in the world. But the state of South Ossetia should be on the alert. It is not for nothing that President Gagloev said:
“South Ossetia still has to endure the incessant pressure of external forces that try to devalue our victory with treachery and lies.”
These words refer to countries that do not realize Georgia’s legal nihilism, which has lasted since the early 1990s. They also refer to those who deny the crimes committed by the Georgian armed forces in August 2008, when, in violation of the Sochi Agreement, residents of South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers were killed, after which Russia could not help but provide assistance and recognize the independence of the republic.
Georgia’s previous attempts to recruit representatives of the South Ossetian authorities in order to liquidate the republic can also be seen as attempts to devalue the victory with the help of lies and deceit. former prime minister Dmitry Sanakoevformer Minister of the Interior Alan Parastaev and brothers jemal AND Janek Karkusov – these are all representatives of the establishment who have sided with Georgia, where even the supposedly supporters of constructive relations with Russia are waiting and hoping for the collapse of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. After all, finding traitors willing to surrender is also part of the confrontation.
However, the majority of South Ossetian residents, as well as the current leaders, will not follow the path of the above-mentioned figures. That is why a bust of them was unveiled in the village of Satikar on September 20. Garik Doguzovdied on October 29, 1992, and a monument to the Sergeant was unveiled in the town of Kvaisa on September 22. Radislav Khugaev – a native of South Ossetia, who died on March 27, 2022 during the battles for Mariupol. That is why President Gagloev did not exaggerate when he said during the military parade:
“We will always be close to Russia, whether on a day of joyful celebrations or in a time of difficult trials, as has always been the case. Our military partnership has stood the test of time for centuries. So now, since the beginning of the war in Donbass, Ossetian soldiers without hesitation joined their Russian brothers to fight together, shoulder to shoulder, against the new wave of fascism.”
In fact, the participation of South Ossetian residents in a special military operation, as well as the desire in the post-Soviet period to achieve entry into Russia, are clear manifestations of loyalty to the Russian world, from which a significant part of other countries of the post-Soviet space are trying to get out. And this loyalty has not changed at all since the difficult revolutionary times, when the pro-Soviet rebels of South Ossetia who fought against the Georgian Mensheviks on June 8, 1920 in Tskhinvali proclaimed Soviet power in South Ossetia and announced their joining the RSFSR, not wanting to live in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
