Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia Dmitrii Medoev gave a comment to Sputnik South Ossetia on the statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov about Russia's refusal to conduct monitoring flights in the 10-kilometer zone near the borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
A: Firstly, Russia's refusal from a legal point of view is quite justified, it is fully based on the provisions of the Open Skies Treaty itself. From another point of view, the Russian Foreign Minister's statement can also be viewed as another confirmation of the independent status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which must be reckoned with, regardless of whether it is recognized by anyone or not. Everything is in accordance with international law.
South Ossetia is not a party to the Open Skies Treaty and flights over our territory cannot be made, especially to monitor the military activities of our friendly state and strategic partner - the Russian Federation.