The Kremlin is fond of asserting that the recognition of the independence of the occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia was a response to the recognition of the US independence of Kosovo, but one can not even imagine more cynical "justifications".

This opinion was expressed by journalist Vitaly Portnikov in a blog on the website "Crimea. Reality ", commenting on the arrival in Abkhazia of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"The visit to Sukhumi just these days is another desire to tug the tiger for a mustache, to remind the United States that despite all calls for Moscow's compliance with international law, the Kremlin will defend its right to controlled territories and the support of" allies ". And in Damascus. And in Donetsk. And in Simferopol. And in Sukhumi, "he said..

As the journalist emphasized, Abkhazia and South Ossetia were, in fact, the first territories that Russia actually annexed - only in contrast to the Crimea this annexation occurred not in the form of annexation to Russia, but in the form of recognition of the independence of these Georgian autonomies.

"In Moscow they like to say that recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is a" rebuff "for Kosovo, but nothing more cynical and impossible to imagine. Kosovo fell under international control, and then gained independence after the vast majority of the population of this region was expelled from their homes by the regime of Slobodan Milosevic and had the opportunity to return only after the NATO operation. In fact, we witnessed the most real ethnocide, and Kosovo's independence is the answer to this ethnocide. At the same time, a minority of the region's inhabitants - Kosovo Serbs - gained autonomy in the new state, which is difficult to compare with the rights of Albanians in Serbia, Milosevic. Again, under the pressure of the international community, "- explained the journalist.

In Abkhazia, according to him, something quite the opposite happened:.

"The overwhelming majority of the population of this republic - the Georgians - were expelled from their homes and only after this, with the support of Russia, the construction of a self-proclaimed Abkhazia. But even in this Abkhazia, the Georgian-speaking Mingrelian minority was deprived of electoral rights - which incidentally helped the current president of Abkhazia, Chekist Raul Khajimba. Abkhazia is Kosovo on the contrary, just like Russia is the United States, on the contrary, from the point of view of influence in world politics ".

Portnikov suggested readers to imagine that the majority of the population of the Crimea - the Russian population - would be expelled from the peninsula, the Crimea would become a Crimean Tatar state, and the remaining Russians in the Crimea would be deprived of the right to participate in the elections of the republic's leadership.

"What, interestingly, about this would be said in Moscow?

But in fact in Abkhazia is exactly this process. Or maybe the Abkhazians are a "more radical" people of Abkhazia than the Crimean Tatars - the Crimea? Or, perhaps, a Russian person in his home has more rights than a Georgian in his own? "- he stressed.

As reported by the "Observer", earlier Vitaly Portnikov told how Russian President Vladimir Putin recorded his American counterpart Donald Trump as personal enemies.

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