Nicaragua, South Ossetia establish diplomatic relations

The Foreign Ministers of South Ossetia and Nicaragua, Murat Dhulioyev and Samuel Santos Lopez, have signed a declaration in Tskhinval establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The South Ossetian president’s press secretary Tamara Kelekhsaeva told RIA Novosti news agency about the development in relations between the two countries, adding that a protocol on consultations between the two foreign ministers has also been signed.

While in Tskhinval from April 13 to April 15, the Nicaraguan officials also plan to lay wreaths at the Fatherland Defenders Monument in South Ossetia’s capital.

South Ossetia, along with another former Georgian republic of Abkhazia, broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On August 8, 2008, Georgian troops attacked South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinval, destroying buildings and killing dozens. Russia sent its soldiers to the republic to defend South Ossetians, as many of them hold Russian passports.

After the war, South Ossetia proclaimed its independence, which Georgia has to date not recognized and instead has blamed Russia for the conflict. On Tuesday, Georgia’s parliament sent an appeal to the parliaments of over 50 countries, including the United States, Canada, Israel and almost every country in Europe, urging them to recognize Russia as an occupying force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

However, according to the EU Independent Fact Finding Mission report into the conflict, Georgia was found responsible for unleashing the Five-Day War in the Caucasus.

So far Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and the Pacific island nation of Nauru have recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries.