The leadership of South Ossetia does not exclude the possibility of gas transit to Transcaucasia through its territory. TASS was informed by the President of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov on the margins of the V Yalta International Economic Forum (YIEF) in Crimea.
Earlier, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, Sergey Tsekov, said that South Ossetia in the future could become a transit territory for gas supplies, including to Georgia.
“We are using Russian gas, and the pipeline’s possibilities quite seriously allow us to talk about the possible gas transit,” said Bibilov, noting that transit will be possible only if Georgia recognizes the sovereignty of South Ossetia, that would allow to conduct interstate negotiations. The top leadership of Georgia does not yet have the courage, political or personal, to declare that South Ossetia is an independent state.".
Earlier it was reported that the works on gasification of South Ossetia by the Russian company Gazprom could be started at the end of 2019, after the completion of the project. In South Ossetia, only the capital is currently gasified - the city of Tskhinval. Gasification of the Republic can take about a year and a half, Gazprom planning to invest more than 2.5 billion rubles in the project in 2016 prices. The general gasification scheme of the Republic was approved in 2015, it provides for gasification of about 200 settlements, construction of more than 520 km of inter-settlement and more than 370 km of intra-settlement gas pipelines.
The gasification of South Ossetia became possible due to the construction of the Dzuarikau-Tskhinval gas pipeline in 2009. It is the highest in the world and starts in the Russian village of Dzuarikau, then passes through the Caucasus Mountains to Tskhinval.
The V Yalta International Economic Forum is held from April 17 to 20. Its main theme is "World. Russia. Crimea. New world reality". TASS is acting as a strategic information partner and photo hosting agency.
