MP Samkharadze: Appointing so-called president as Putin adviser is mockery of de facto regime; Russia rejects Tskhinvali’s independence

“The treaty signed between Russia and the so-called South Ossetia in May is entirely unacceptable to us; it is a clear step towards annexation,” stated the Chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, MP Nikoloz Samkharadze.

According to him, Georgia strongly condemns this agreement.

“This is an agreement imposed by an occupying regime, carrying absolutely no political weight or legal validity. As for the transfer of the self-proclaimed ‘president’ to the role of an advisor to Putin, the whole thing is comical. In my view, this is a major insult to Alan Gagloev and the de facto authorities of Tskhinvali. Russia claims to recognise the so-called independence of South Ossetia; at the same time, it reassigns the so-called ‘president’ of this ‘republic’ to serve as a mere advisor to the president of another country. World history has never seen anything like this. It is a total mockery of the de facto authorities and a blatant admission that even Russia does not consider Tskhinvali to be ‘independent’,” Nikoloz Samkharadze stated.

For context, the de facto president of occupied South Ossetia, Alan Gagloev, has resigned to become an advisor to the Russian President.