Foreign relations of South Ossetia the third UN member state to recognize South Ossetia. The militant Palestinian organization Hamas also welcomed the recognition of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia. South Ossetia does not belong to any international organizations as of March 2009 besides the Community for Democracy and Human Rights. 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
International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 28 August 2008 argued that Medvedev's decree was "a blow below the belt" for Russia's ally Serbia. "If the changes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia occurred, as Russia claims, in accordance with the example set in Kosovo, then that means that Russia has indirectly admitted that Kosovo’s departure from Serbia was lawful." In September 2009, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, when asked by journalists why Abkhazia and South Ossetia should be internationally recognised and Kosovo not, said that "the strongest argument is the fact that at the time when Kosovo’s authorities made the UDI, nobody