\n The leader of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia on Monday scrapped plans to hold a referendum on joining Russia which his predecessor had scheduled for July 17.\n<\/p>\n
\n South Ossetia was at the centre of the Russian-Georgian war in 2008 after which the Kremlin recognised the territory as an independent state and stationed military bases there.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a decree issued Monday, the Moscow-controlled enclave's president Alan Gagloev invoked \"uncertainty of the legal consequences of the issue submitted to a referendum\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The decree also stressed \"the inadmissibility of a unilateral decision of a referendum on issues affecting the legitimate rights and interests of the Russian Federation\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Gagloev ordered \"to hold, without delay, consultations with the Russian side on the entire range of issues related to the further integration of South Ossetia and the Russian Federation\".\n<\/p>\n
\n On May 13, Gagloev's predecessor, Anatoly Bibilov, signed a decree on holding the referendum, citing the region's \"historic aspiration\" to join Russia, his office said at the time.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bibilov lost his bid for re-election earlier this month. Russia has expressed hope that Gagloev will preserve \"continuity\" in ties with Moscow.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tbilisi has previously denounced as \"unacceptable\" plans by South Ossetia to hold a referendum on joining Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n - War crimes -\n<\/p>\n
\n Monday's announcement came on the 96th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk regions have also expressed interest in joining Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n The full-scale war on Ukraine has sparked an outpouring of solidarity in Georgia.\n<\/p>\n
\n In August 2008, Russian forces launched an all-out invasion of Georgia, which was battling pro-Russian militia in South Ossetia, after they shelled Georgian villages.\n<\/p>\n
\n The fighting ended five days later with a European Union-mediated ceasefire but claimed more than 700 lives and displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians.\n<\/p>\n
\n The war's aftermath saw the Kremlin recognise the independence of South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia, which have since remained under Russia's military control.\n<\/p>\n
\n The conflict marked the culmination of tensions with the Kremlin over staunchly pro-Western Tbilisi's bid to join the European Union and NATO.\n<\/p>\n
\n In March, the prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, applied for arrest warrants for three current and former South Ossetian officials in connection with war crimes committed against ethnic Georgians.\n<\/p>\n
\n The alleged crimes included torture, inhuman treatment, illegal detention, violation of personal dignity, hostage-taking and illegal transfers of people.\n<\/p>\n
\n Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for human rights violations in the war's aftermath.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The leader of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia on Monday scrapped plans to hold a referendum on joining Russia which his predecessor had scheduled for July 17. South Ossetia was at the centre of the Russian-Georgian war in 2008 after which the Kremlin recognised the territory as an independent state and stationed military bases […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-93089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n