Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 14 /Trend, E.Tariverdiyeva/
The Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has found a hole in the legislation in order to once again demonstrate to Russia that the country is its partner, European expert, a member of the Trend Expert Alexander Rahr told Trend.
"Now other countries such as Belarus will be able to take advantage of this hole in order to give a signal to Russia that it is willing to work with unrecognized republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia, not officially recognizing them," Rahr, the director of the German Council on Foreign Relations' Russia-Eurasia Center, told Trend by telephone from Berlin.
Sargsyan signed the amendments to the law, which was adopted by parliament on Dec. 17, Novosti-Armenia reported. The amendments regulate the relations between Armenia and unrecognized territories in matters of peace, human rights, and humanitarian, financial and economic assistance. The bill states that unrecognized territories may be a party to an international treaty.
Military actions were launched in the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia in Aug. 2008. Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali, with Russian troops later occupying the city. The Russian armed forces drove the Georgian military back into Georgia proper moving towards Tbilisi. Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Aug. 26 and established diplomatic ties with the secessionist states on Sept. 9, 2008.
According to Rahr, since Russia is the protector of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it demands its allies to recognize these republics. "Armenia has established a precedent of quasi-recognition by close allies of Russia," he said.
Rahr said if the law signed by president Serzh Sargsyan entail the opening of any missions in the territories of the separatist regions, it will cause a great resonance in the West.
"It can also cause a complication of relations between Armenia and Georgia, while from a legal point of view, Armenia does not recognize these areas since the embassies and diplomatic missions will not be there," said the analyst.