International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia facts for kids

In 2023, President Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia fully respects and acknowledges Georgia's territorial integrity and considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Georgian territories.

For the first time, in 2024, Armenia voted in favor of the Georgia resolution at the United Nations which would United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to reiterate the right of return of all displaced persons and refugees to Georgia's Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia and support Georgia's territorial integrity.

On 27 August 2008, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim stated, "Azerbaijan's position remains unchanged. We recognise Georgia's territorial integrity".

According to Peter Rutland, the EU has rewarded the Belarusian President Lukashenko for not recognising the republics by suspending the travel ban for top Belarusian officials that had been imposed in 2004. Karel Schwarzenberg has stated publicly, that if Belarus recognises Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it can forget about the Eastern Partnership. "If they would recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia it would create a very, very difficult situation for Belarus," Schwarzenberg has said. Sweden, co-author of the Eastern Partnership program, rejected Lavrov's position as "completely unacceptable". The EU's position on Georgia is not 'blackmail' but "is about upholding the principles of the EU and international law, which Russia should also be respecting", stated Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt

According to Eurasianet.org, which cites Russian media reports, Belarus is under Kremlin pressure to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia. There have been suppositions Russia has offered Belarus a $500 million credit on condition that Belarus recognises the two regions as independent. In June 2009, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus said Moscow had made recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia a condition for Belarus to receive the last $500 million of a $2 billion loan, but added that Belarus’ position was not for sale. Russian officials have denied any such link. The dispute over the loan led to the June 2009 Milk War between Belarus and Russia. The government of Belarus has informed its citizens to abide by Georgian laws when travelling to the regions. The Foreign Ministry of Belarus stated that Belarusians should only use entrance points on the Georgian side.

Belarusian lawmakers visited Abkhazia and South Ossetia in late 2009 to study the situation and decide to postpone decision to spring 2010. South Ossetia asked for a symmetrical approach between them and Abkhazia.

In 2021, an OSCE expert estimated that Belarus might be one of the next countries to recognize Abkhazia. In November 2021, South Ossetian president Anatoly Bibilov said that he expects a diplomatic recognition from Belarus soon. In 2022, Alexander Lukashenko visited Abkhazia for the first time and met with the Abkhaz president Bzhania and proclaimed "We want to build not just a bridge of friendship, but very serious relations." However, Belarus still did not recognize Abkhazia's independence.

Georgia sent a protest note to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement, saying that Bosnia and Herzegovina has "good and friendly relations with Georgia based on mutual respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty". The ministry also noted that it was unaware of the visit of Bibilov. However, President of President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said that Bibilov was visiting "the Serb entity, not the Bosnian state". He also stated that "Georgia does not have a friendly attitude towards the RS [Republika Srpska], we know that, and neither do we have one towards it".

Gagauzia, an autonomous region of Moldova, passed a resolution, recognising independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, backing Russia's actions in the regions, and asking central Moldova's government to recognise these states.

Saudi Arabia does not recognizes Abkhazia or South Ossetia. In May 2012, during the visit to Georgia, Abdullah bin Zamil Al-Drees, a head of the delegation of Majlis al-Shura of Saudi Arabia, said that the kingdom's position was based on its foreign policy in support of the territorial integrity of countries.

In October 2009, Ukrainian Ambassador to Russia Kostyantyn Gryshchenko said that "We must not recognize neither Kosovo nor Abkhazia, nor South Ossetia in no case".
In March 2010, President Viktor Yanukovych said that the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was "not currently on the agenda." This was confirmed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Kostyantyn Gryshchenko on 14 May 2010: "An issue of territorial integrity and inviolability of frontiers is a matter of principle for us. Period".
On 4 June 2010, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said, "I have never recognized Abkhazia, South Ossetia or Kosovo's independence. This is a violation of international law".

After the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the new Ukrainian government toughened its stance towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia (like Transnistria). In 2018, Ukrainian ships forcefully intercepted Abkhaz ships in the Black Sea.

To help the conflict resolution in the Caucasus, the Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi started an exchange program for Abkhaz university employees in 2018. The professors from Abkhazian State University visited the United States. They visited the Arizona State University, San Diego State University, Rutgers University, Virginia Tech, Pennsylvania State University, University of Maryland, College Park and the United States Department of Agriculture.

In August 2008, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated that "the question of recognition of states is a matter for sovereign states to decide. Today's developments may have wider implications for security and stability in the Caucasus. The secretary-general regrets that ongoing efforts to find a common solution on the way forward in the crisis in Georgia within the Security Council may be complicated". Michele Montas, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, denied comparisons of Kosovo with the two regions and said, "I think that you should compare the two situations. The history of the two situations is different and this has been stressed several times".

The President of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, sided with Russia in the course of this war, which led to criticism by Western diplomats.

The CSTO (ODKB) did not recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states as, according to Medvedev, the member states will individually decide whether to recognise taking into account their own national interests.

Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha stated at a press conference in Yerevan that the present situation is "driving Abkhazia and South Ossetia into the collective security system", and further stated his belief that "South Ossetia and Abkhazia can not successfully and steadily develop without [being part of] a collective security system, without the backing of other states."

The EU's executive arm, the European Commission, issued a statement stating it "fully shares and supports" the EU French presidency's statement on the Russian act on Tuesday (26 August 2012).

French and UK foreign ministers have voiced fears that Russia may be planning scenarios similar to those that occurred in Georgia in countries traditionally regarded by Russia as being in its sphere of influence, directly bordering the EU, such as Moldova and Ukraine. Their fears are prompted by rising tension between Ukraine and Russia, and fresh calls for independence from Moldova by separatists in the breakaway region of Transnistria.

On 9 July 2012, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution at its annual session in Monaco, underlining Georgia's territorial integrity and referring to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as "occupied territories". The resolution "urges the Government and the Parliament of the Russian Federation, as well as the de facto authorities of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, to allow the European Union Monitoring Mission unimpeded access to the occupied territories." It also says that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is "concerned about the humanitarian situation of the displaced persons both in Georgia and in the occupied territories of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, as well as the denial of the right of return to their places of living." The Assembly is the parliamentary dimension of the OSCE with 320 lawmakers from the organization's 56 participating states, including Russia.

Independently of their ISO membership status, ISO will also potentially issue a standardised country code for each. According to rules of procedure followed by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency based in Geneva, a new ISO 3166-1 code for Abkhazia and/or South Ossetia will only be issued once it appears in the United Nations Terminology Bulletin Country Names or in the UN Statistics Division's list of Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use. To appear in the terminology bulletin, it must either (a) be admitted into the United Nations, (b) join a UN Specialised Agency or (c) become a state party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice. None of these criteria have been met.