Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 20 February 2016: Break-away Georgian region of South Ossetia to hold referendum on joining Russia

The internationally unrecognised break-away region of South Ossetia, de iure still part of Georgia, announced it would hold a referendum on joining the Russian Federation. The declared President of the region Leonid Tibilov stated the referendum is driven due to concerns of NATO expansion and so called anti-Russian and anti-Ossetia rhetoric from Georgia. The region has stated earlier it was planning to hold a referendum. It is unsure if the Russian Federation would accept the outcome in case of a positive vote in the illegal referendum. The region already declared independence in 1992 and Georgia effectively lost the remainder of its control over the region after the Georgia-Russia war of 2008, when Russian troops drove out Georgian forces in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia.