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Putin signs deal with Georgia's South Ossetia region effectively integrating it with Russia

President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with Georgia's rebel South Ossetia region on Wednesday that almost completely integrates it with Russia, alarming Georgia and the West a year after Moscow took over Crimea.

Tbilisi described the "alliance and integration" treaty as a "move aimed at annexation" and the United States and European Union said they would not recognize the agreement, which the EU depicted as a threat to regional security and stability.

Under the deal, signed in the Kremlin by Putin and South Ossetian leader Leonid Tibilov, a former KGB official, the region's security forces, military, economy, customs service and border guards will be deeply integrated with those of Russia.

Russia won a five-day war with Georgia in 2008 over the fate of South Ossetia and another rebel region, Abkhazia. It formally recognizes both regions as independent states and signed a similar treaty with Abkhazia last year.

"Another step is being taken today to strengthen our partnership," Putin said after signing what he described as a "landmark" treaty in the Kremlin, with the Russian and South Ossetian flags behind him.

Tibilov hailed the agreement, which will make it easier for the people of South Ossetia to gain Russian citizenship, as "the best possible guarantee of state security". He said EU and U.S. officials should mind their own business.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-signs-t...124624670.html