President of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov and the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin spoke at a joint press conference about the results of the talks held in Tskhinval during the first official visit of the head of the DPR to the Republic.
“We discussed a lot of issues in terms of exchange of experience regarding the tax base, support of the economy, small and medium enterprises. All these issues will find their further logical continuation,” said Anatoly Bibilov.
Denis Pushilin, in turn, noted the fruitfulness of the talks. “At such meetings, a certain tendency is created for the development of one direction or another. Exchange of experience, of course, is needed and by joint efforts we can move much further,” the head of the DPR emphasized.
Results of the joint activities
President of South Ossetia spoke about the results of the interaction of the two republics today, the intention of the fraternal republics to increase cooperation.
“In terms of healthcare, I want to note that one of our specialists has already defended a candidate’s dissertation in Donetsk. Recently, two more of our specialists in medicine and economics went there, who will work on their dissertations. The representative of the Donetsk People's Republic, Doctor of Medicine Andrei Kolesnikov, also worked for a long time in our Republic on the line of anesthesiology. All these are the factors that allow us to talk about building up cooperation in the healthcare sector,” Bibilov said.
According to him, it is planned to develop cooperation in the field of education.
“The Donetsk People’s Republic is ready to accept our students for training, for this an agreement has been signed between the ministries of education of the two republics,” the President said.
He has added that the agreements were signed between the republics in almost all areas, from education, culture to the Ministry of Emergencies.
“It is also necessary to prepare an agreement between the ministries of internal affairs of South Ossetia and Donetsk, since crime, as they say, has no borders. I think we will be able to sign this agreement,” the head of state noted.
Terrorism is the enemy of the peoples of South Ossetia and Donbass
The heads of the republics also touched upon the issues of security of citizens. Denis Pushilin, commenting on the explosion in Lugansk on the night of September 19 (the explosion of an automobile bridge through which the access roads to one of the local bakeries passed, humanitarian aid from Russia was also delivered through this bridge - Note. Ed.) noted that the republics of Donbass are dealing with an adversary who, in the political arenas, declares its commitment to resolving the conflict peacefully, but in fact shows the opposite.
“We have seen the election rhetoric of the new president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, who said that the main task was to end the war and received a certain share of the vote precisely for these statements. But in fact, today we see the manifestation of the path of the previous government of Ukraine in the worst implementation, - said Pushilin. - And if the world community is so vehemently pushing the sanctions policy, then it's time to talk about sanctions against Ukraine, which does not comply with the latest agreements, not to mention the previous ones. "I want to turn to Germany and France, which act as a guarantor and to some extent supervise the actions and defend Ukraine on the international platform, with the question - where are the sanctions?"
According to him, residents of the DPR and LPR are constantly living in conditions of possible terrorist acts by Ukraine.
“Any explosive objects are constantly being detected in certain places,” the head of the Republic said.
Anatoly Bibilov, for his part, drew parallels between Georgia and Ukraine, noting that the Ukrainian side uses the same methods today as Georgia did in its time.
“We remember that until 2008, Georgian political power made terrorism its state policy. Cars, televisions, mobile phones and other equipment were blown up here. And when terrorism becomes state policy, this, of course, does not lead to anything good,” the President said.
Russia - a common future
Touching on the relations of Donetsk, Lugansk and South Ossetia with the Russian Federation, Anatoly Bibilov has emphasized that the three republics are the front for the Russian Federation.
“We have absolutely the same relations with the Russian Federation. By and large, we are the front that exists around Russia today, because all the actions that have been taken place in the DPR and LPR and in South Ossetia, are directed against Russia. And we are the absolute adherents of the foundations, including the ideological ones that were laid between us historically, this suggests that we are part of Russia, regardless of whether Europe likes it or not. We consider Russia our historical homeland,” the head of state said.
According to Bibilov, together with the leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic, steps will be taken to further rapprochement with Russia in the context of the interests of the Russian Federation.
“Where there are interests of the Russian Federation, there are, of course, our interests - of small nations, therefore they absolutely coincide,” the head of state concluded.
Denis Pushilin as part of the delegation of the DPR, will also take part in the events dedicated to the celebration of the Republic Day on September 20.
South Ossetia in 2014 recognized the independence of the DPR and the LPR. Between Tskhinval and the republics are established diplomatic relations. In Donetsk and Lugansk there are representations of South Ossetia, in Tskhinval - representations of the DPR and the LPR.
