(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Russia want to change the current status of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, according to a poll by the Yuri Levada Analytical Center. 46 per cent of respondents want South Ossetia to become a part of Russia, while 34 per cent think the region should become fully independent.

According to international regulations, South Ossetia and Abkhazia belong to Georgia—a former Soviet republic. In the early 1990s, both pro-Russian regions became de facto independent but failed to be fully recognized as sovereign nations. Separatist forces operate in both regions. Georgia is currently led by pro-Western politicians and is in talks to enter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

On Aug. 7, the Georgian government sent troops into South Ossetia in a surprise attack to assert sovereignty over the region. The following day, Russian tanks entered South Ossetia and confronted the Georgian army. The Russian government claimed that it was acting in defence of Russian citizens living in the region. In recent years, Russia has handed Russian passports to the vast majority of South Ossetia residents. Russian troops occupied South Ossetia and other parts of Georgia, and some disturbances were reported in Abkhazia as well.

On Aug. 12, French president Nicolas Sarkozy—whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU)—brokered a cease fire which included a commitment by Russia to withdraw its forces from Georgian territory.

Russia has now pulled out most of its troops from central and Western Georgia. Russian soldiers are still present in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

On Aug. 25, Russian lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution asking Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations. Sergei Mironov—speaker of the upper house Russian Federation Council—declared: "Today it is clear that Georgian-South-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian relations cannot be returned to their former state. (...) The peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have the right to get independence."

Polling Data

What do you think should happen to South Ossetia?

Source: Yury Levada Analytical Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted from Aug. 9 and Aug. 10, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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