OREANDA-NEWS. September 17, 2008. Russia’s key task now is to ensure South Ossetia’s and Abkhazia’s security, Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting with journalists after the signing of the Treaties on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance with the republics. 

The treaties’ clauses include provisions for taking joint measures to respond to acts of aggression against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, including through military support, in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, proclaiming the right to individual or collective self-defence.  

Mr Medvedev said that the treaties are a logical stage in the development of events in the region since the start of the 1990s and a continuation of the steps Russia has taken since August 8, 2008. Russia’s objective was to rein in Georgian aggression, return peace and stability to the Trans-Caucasus region and establish conditions for the Abkhazian and South Ossetian peoples’ free and democratic development, Mr Medvedev said.  

Lasting security and stability are the guarantee of peaceful life for all the region’s peoples and are a crucial condition for rebuilding trust and good-neighbourly relations and bringing about economic and social recovery in both republics, the President said.