Expert: Foreign ministry's statement on Abkhazia, South Ossetia has no political weight

On July 22, the Belarusian foreign ministry disseminated a statement which does not recommend Belarus nationals to travel to Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of Georgia's law, i.e. through the territory of Russia. The Russian media were fast to react, suggesting that this statement is an idenrect non-recognition of the goverment of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by the official Minsk. But in the view of political commentator Yury Shevtsov, the statement is just a precaution for Belarus citizens so that they could avoid problems when entering the self-declared states through the Russian border.

Shevtsov: “It has just been an explanation from the foreign ministry for Belarus citizens. It has no political weight”.

After a woman from Belarus entered the South Ossetia through the Russian border, she was detained by Georgian troops and spent almost one and a half months in a Georgian jail.