TSKHINVAL. Jan 12 (Interfax) - The defense ministry of South Ossetia is preparing to sign an arrangement as part of its alliance and integration agreement with Russia setting out the procedure for a number of South Ossetian military units joining the Russian Armed Forces.
"After this arrangement is signed, Russia will recognize active military service in the republic's armed forces and our military ID cards. We managed to defend the numbers of our armed forces, and as for all changes to the organizational and staff structure, we'll implement these ourselves after the signing of the arrangement," South Ossetian Defense Minister Ibragim Gasseyev said at a reporting meeting attended by the republic's president on Thursday.
The whole of last year was spent in close cooperation with counterparts at the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, and the Central Headquarters of the Russian Ground Force, Gasseyev said.
One of the most important issues in 2016 was to preserve the size of the national army, he said.
For his part South Ossetian President Leonid Tibilov, in offering New Year greetings to the Defense Ministry staff, said: "Today we have a fully-fledged defense ministry, we have everything we need for the armed forces of our republic to be able to defend their country any time." "We need to do our utmost to resolve problems concerning military discipline within the ranks of our Armed Forces," he said.