The Spanish Foreign Ministry issued a statement on October 26 in response to media reports on opening “a representation office of South Ossetia” in Barcelona.

The Ministry stated that Spain “considers South Ossetia to be an integral part of Georgia,” stressing that this position was held by the rest of the EU member states, and that “South Ossetia is not recognized by practically any Member State of the United Nations Organization.”

Madrid’s statement also clarified that South Ossetia did not have “the right of legation in any country of the European Union, or in almost any of the States that make up the international community,” and reiterated “full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.”

A “foreign minister” of the Russian-backed Tskhinvali authorities, Dmitry Medoev was in Barcelona on October 23. Medoev met with members of the local Ossetian diaspora, saying that events in Catalonia “cause special interest in South Ossetia, because 26 years ago the South Ossetian people also made the same crucial steps on the road to the establishment of its own statehood.”

That same day the “representation office of ministry of foreign affairs of South Ossetia in Catalonia” was opened in Barcelona. Its stated purpose is to “facilitate establishment of bilateral links, first of all in the cultural and humanitarian spheres.”

Tskhinvali Russian-backed authorities have expressed support for the Catalan separatist cause in the recent past. In an interview published on October 3, Dmitry Medoev referred to the controversial independence referendum in Catalonia of October 1, saying that “despite the pogroms by the police, it is clear that the Catalans have defended their right to independence with honor,” adding that  “the aggressive reaction of the Spanish authorities on the referendum has shown the world, once again, that for the West the accepted practice is not the primacy of the main principles of international law, but double standards and open hypocrisy .”