The eighth Moscow International Security Conference MCIS-2019, organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense, continues its work in Moscow. The ministers of defense, their deputies and the chiefs of the general headquarters of 35 countries are taking part in it. The topic for discussion, in particular, is “International peacekeeping: new approaches and military cooperation”.
For the young Republic of South Ossetia - the State of Alania, peacekeeping was the decisive factor that ensured freedom and security for its people, Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Gasseev, head of the Republic’s defense ministry, said in a speech at the plenary session.
“In December 1990, in violation of the current legislation, the Georgian Parliament abolished the South Ossetian Autonomous Region. Subsequently, this led to heavy casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said.
Gasseev told about the situation developed until August 2008, when, with the participation of Russian peacekeepers, Georgian militants were ousted from South Ossetia.
“The settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict was the first peacekeeping operation in Russia after the collapse of the USSR,” he stressed. “Every nation has the right to self-determination, which we could not use after the collapse of the Soviet Union because of the whim of Georgia.”
Gasseev is sure that it was the intervention of Russia and the subsequent recognition of the independence of the Republic on August 26, 2008 that made possible the peaceful, free, sovereign development of South Ossetia.
“After Russia's recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the concept of peace for us has moved to a new level,” said the Minister of Defense.
The MCIS-2019 began on April 23 with a visit by delegates to the Patriot park near Moscow.
On April 24, the participants spent the whole day discussing various aspects of international security, from the militarization of space to network wars.
On Friday, the conference ends its work.
