Donetsk People's Republic–South Ossetia relations (Ossetian: Донецчы Адӕмон Республикӕ-Хуссар Ирыстоны хъуыд, Russian: Донецко-южноосетинские отношения) are the bilateral relations between the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and South Ossetia. The DPR is a disputed republic of Russia whereas South Ossetia is a partially recognized state. From April 2014 to September 2022, the DPR portrayed itself as an independent state, but this is no longer the case after Russia's annexation of the DPR on 30 September 2022.
 | |
 Donetsk People's Republic |
 South Ossetia |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Representative Office of South Ossetia, Donetsk | |
The Russian-annexed DPR is widely internationally unrecognized, with most of the international community regarding the DPR as a Russian military occupation of a portion of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast (roughly 60% as of October 2022). Meanwhile, South Ossetia is also widely internationally unrecognized, with most of the international community regarding South Ossetia as a part of Georgia.
The DPR and South Ossetia maintained bilateral relations from June 2014 to September 2022. The relations have become defunct in the international relations sense (state-to-state) after Russia's annexation of the DPR. South Ossetia still maintains relations with the DPR in the subnational sense (state-to-province).
History
editIn April 2014, pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas occupied the city of Donetsk and declared independence from Ukraine, having taken control of a portion of Donetsk Oblast, with the rest of the oblast remaining under Ukrainian rule. In the meantime, South Ossetian Ambassador to Russia Dmitry Medoyev received a delegation from DPR Chairman Denis Pushilin at the latter's request. During the meeting, Pushilin asked Medoyev to address an appeal to South Ossetian president Leonid Tibilov and parliamentary Chairman Stanislav Kochiev to recognize the DPR's independence.[1]
On June 27, South Ossetia's Security Council decided to recognize the Donetsk People's Republic. South Ossetia's president told the media: "I believe the recognition of the Donetsk republic is the right step, South Ossetia's people support and hail the decision to recognize Donetsk and Luhansk."[2][unreliable source]
On May 13, 2015, the Donetsk People's Republic Foreign Ministry said in a statement that President Alexander Zakharchenko signed the decree recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[3]
Celebrations were held in Tskhinvali when Russia recognized Donetsk and Luhansk, organized by the South Ossetian government.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic asks S. Ossetia to recognize its independence". Kyiv Post. 2014-06-21. Archived from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
- ^ "South Ossetia recognizes independence of Donetsk People's Republic". ITAR-TASS. 2014-06-27. Archived from the original on 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
- ^ "Ukrainian separatists recognize Abkhazia, South Ossetia". TurkishWeekly. 2015-05-13. Archived from the original on 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
- ^ Kucera, Joshua (2022-02-22). "Putin's Donbas recognition reverberates in Caucasus". eurasianet. Retrieved 2022-06-26.