Foreign relations of South Ossetia Foreign relations of South Ossetia The Republic of South Ossetia is a self-proclaimed state which is recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Nauru, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Transnistria. South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in 1991, but did not receive recognition from any UN member states until after the 2008 South Ossetia war. Abkhazia and South Ossetia recognized each other's independence on 19 September 2005 or before. In December 2009, Nauru recognized the independence of South Ossetia. Nauru's foreign minister, Kieren Keke, visited Tskhinvali. On September 5, 2008, Nicaragua became the second UN member state to recognize South Ossetia. On
Russia–South Ossetia relations formally integrated into the Russian economy by treaty in March 2015. After being instructed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in March 2009, Russia allocated 2.8 billion rubles from the Russian federal budget, as part of agreements between the Russian Ministry of Finance and its South Ossetian counterpart, which were based on the treaty signed in September 2008. Russia also allocated an additional 8.5 billion rubles to South Ossetia in order to assist in rebuilding housing, social amenities and utilities which were destroyed or damaged during the 2008 war. According to Eduard Kokoity, seventy percent of residential housing and eighty