Anatoly Bibilov, who lost the second round of the presidential election to opposition leader Gagloev, issued a decree on May 13 to organize a referendum on South Ossetia's entrance into Russia on July 17. The poll question for the referendum was phrased as South Ossetia's unification with the Russian Federation. However, the new de facto president of South Ossetia, Alan Gagloev, who annulled ex-president Bibilov's decision on holding a referendum, said that he was beginning negotiations with the Russian side on topics related to greater integration with the Russian Federation.
The new leader defended his choice as follows: "During the discussion, we first learned about this referendum. Its language sounded different then than it does now. If the question were "Do you favor the admission of a distinct entity within the Russian Federation?" then everything would be obvious. Today, the referendum question says, "Do you support the unification of the Republic of South Ossetia and Russia?" Gagloev also talked about the cost of the referendum, which would be 32,500,000 rubles, or about $500,000, for the de facto republic.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced that the officials of the self-proclaimed republic of South Ossetia made a reasonable move by postponing the order on conducting a vote on joining Russia:
“Considering that this initiative of the former president Bibilov was not approved by us, we view the decision of the new head of state to suspend the "Decree of May 13, 2022 On calling a referendum of the Republic of South Ossetia" as consistent with the spirit of alliance between our countries and the principle of close bilateral coordination on issues of significance to Russia and South Ossetia.” Additionally, Zakharova mentioned that the Russian Federation is prepared to have discussions with South Ossetian partners to explore deeper integration between the Republic of South Ossetia and the Russian Federation. Additionally, the officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry mentioned that the aspiration of the South Ossetian people to co-create their own future with Russia is held in high regard in Moscow, but the "current geopolitical scenario on the globe" must be taken into account while considering the referendum.
Earlier, the Press Secretary of the Russian Federation's President, Dmitry Peskov, reiterated that Russia has no plans to accede South Ossetia. At the same time, Konstantin Zatulin, the first deputy head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, stated that he did not see the need for a referendum, "We must carefully observe what is happening in the Caucasus right now.” “Clearly, the South Ossetian referendum will provoke a flow of emotions in neighboring Georgia, and while we have a special military operation in Ukraine, I do not feel we should get to be pulled into Georgia." Previously, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili referred to the idea of organizing a referendum on South Ossetia's admission to Russia as another Russian provocation and annexation threat.
