The South Ossetian delegation headed by Prime Minister Gennady Bekoev took part in the opening of the Forum of Russian Citizens in Lugansk, the press service of the Republic's executive body reported.
Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky, Deputy Foreign Minister of the DPR Natalia Mikhailova were invited to the ceremony.
Deputies of the State Duma, representatives of the United Russia party Artem Turov, Igor Stankevich, Larisa Tutova, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Volgograd Regional Duma Alexey Volotskov, representatives of the Kostroma and Kaluga Regional Duma, head of the Union of Volunteers of Donbass Alexander Borodai, official representatives of the Republic of Abkhazia also arrived in the capital of the LPR.
The opening ceremony of the Forum was attended by the Head of the Lugansk People's Republic Leonid Pasechnik.
He has noted that “the residents of Donbass, rising up to fight Ukrainian fascism, pursued the only goal - to remain a part of the Russian world, to protect their history and national identity,” in which the Russian Federation has been providing them invaluable support for seven years.
Prime Minister Gennady Bekoev, in turn, noted the key role of the Russian Federation in the formation of the statehood of South Ossetia, and stressed that the support of Russian citizens abroad is one of the important tasks of Russian foreign policy.
“A number of parallels can be drawn between our republics,” said Gennady Bekoev. - We understand well what it means to fight for the people's right to self-determination, and we set ourselves similar goals - the preservation of ethnocultural self-identification and rapprochement with the Russian Federation.
Today's Forum was organized at the highest level, for which I would like to express my gratitude to the organizing committee. It has become the most important event for the Russian citizens abroad. Supporting and protecting their interests is a priority task and an essential part of Russian foreign policy. And on the example of South Ossetia, we see how it is being implemented, how the United Russia party is scrupulously working to resolve the problems of fellow citizens outside the Russian Federation, including at the legislative level.
We are working on the issues of unification with all countries that consider themselves part of the Russian world, with which we are connected by the events of modern history. Today's forum helps us in this, and I hope that it will become a permanent platform”.
Touching upon the topic of cooperation with the LPR, the head of the Government has stressed that the work is underway to expand and strengthen interaction with the Luhansk People's Republic, implement the provisions of the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance, develop economic, scientific, technical, cultural ties, as well as the processes of mutual integration.
The South Ossetian delegation in Lugansk has also included the first Deputy Head of the Presidential. Executive Office Alan Dzhussoev, Plenipotentiary representative of the government in the Parliament Zurab Kokoev, the head of the protocol service of the President of the Republic of South Ossetia Tadioz Kochiev.
The Forum will be working in three sections: “Actual problems of Russian citizens living outside the country”, “Support and protection of Russian citizens abroad”, “Realization of the rights of the Russian citizens living abroad to participate in the electoral process”.
