Pace of international recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is “normal”, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said and added that this process “is faster than the pace of recognition of Soviet Russia was.”

“I am sure, as the process of stabilization in Trans-Caucasus becomes free of ideology and momentum of the past and as the reality, which won’t disappear anywhere, are recognized by everyone and as the statehood of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are steadily strengthened, this process [of international recognition] will proceed faster,” Lavrov said on February 1.

He was speaking in Moscow at a joint news conference with Murat Jioev, the foreign minister of breakaway South Ossetia.  Moscow signed visa-free agreement with Tskhinvali – the move described by officials in Tbilisi as “ludicrous”.

In December, 2009, the tiny Pacific island of Nauru was the third country to follow Russia’s suit in recognition the two breakaway regions, following Nicaragua and Venezuela.