2 Sep 2008
Belarus, Venezuela recognize South Ossetian, Abkhazian independence
From Novinite.com:
The President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, officially declared Saturday his country’s support of Russia and of their decision to recognize South Ossetia’s and Abkhazia’s independence.
With their President’s declaration Venezuela became the second country to officially recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Belarus is the other one – they declared earlier their support of the decision of the Russian government.
“We support Russia. Russia has all the right to defend their own interest,” Chavez said in a televised statement.
Their math is a little bit off. Venezuela is actually the third country to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They didn’t count Russia.
Either way this is an interesting development. Next to look for is how Syria, Libya and Iran react. Several of these anti-Washington countries have also voiced support for Russia in the Georgian conflict but have stopped short of recognizing the independence of Georgia’s break-away republics.