Russia's Upper Chamber backs independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

(Channel One) Russia's upper chamber of parliament has unanimously voted to ask the Russian President to recognise independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
As the emergency session of the Federation Council began in Moscow, the presidents of the two breakaway republics have once again said they will never agree to remain within Georgia.

In his speech, the President of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, said that both unrecognised states have more right to independence than Kosovo.

“As President of South Ossetia and on behalf of the South Ossetian parliament and its people, with all gratitude to the President of the Russian Federation I once again call for the recognition of South Ossetia as an independent state,” he said before the senators.

Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh, for his part, said neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia will live as one state with Georgia.

Meanwhile, the Parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma will most probably back the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, said Konstantin Zatulin, deputy head of the Duma Committee for International Affairs.

MPs have gathered to discuss draft appeals to the Russian President and the parliaments of UN member states in connection with Georgia’s military attack on South Ossetia.

In his address the Speaker of the Duma, Boris Gryzlov, called Georgia's action a case of genocide and compared it to the aggression of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union.

Even if Russia recognises Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the entire process will take a long time. There will be a need to decide what form their independence will take.

But if NATO makes a strong push to bring Georgia into the alliance, Russia will recognise both of them instantaneously, says RT’s political commentator Peter Lavelle.