Ukraine government may move to recognize Abkhazia, South Ossetia

Kyiv Post -- Two members of Ukraine's parliament, one representing the ruling party and the other belonging to an opposition group, have argued that there is a chance that Ukraine's government will move to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions "will support all efforts by the president and government to help stabilize the international situation," Party of Regions parliamentary deputy Vadym Kolesnichenko told Interfax.

Kolesnichenko was commenting on a speech by Yanukovych at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on Tuesday.

In that speech, the president condemned the use of double standards in making decisions on whether or not to recognize the independence of various breakaway territories and urged the revision of independence recognition criteria."

To avoid double and triple standards, "Yanukovych as far back as two years put forward a proposal - and we support it - that most likely a new international agreement is needed on principles for the recognition of the indivisibility [of a country] and immutability of borders," Kolesnichenko said.

Andriy Shkil of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc said there was a chance that Yanukovych would soon come to parliament with an initiative for recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The parliamentarian told Interfax that Yanukovych had called for recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia during his presidential election campaign.

Source: Kyiv Post