Moscow, 1 June: Russian political analysts believe that the increased interest of the Western media in the parliamentary election in South Ossetia showed that the West has recognized de facto the new state's independence even if official support goes to Georgia's position.

"The interest the Western media showed in the election is very telling. One may say without exaggeration that the level of attention and interest was very high. I think that this confirms clearly that although the West supports the position of official Tbilisi and has not recognized South Ossetia de jure, it has reconciled itself de facto to the new state's independence," Sergey Markov, director of the Institute for Political Studies, told Interfax on Monday [1 June].

The analyst believes that the election was fundamentally important in that Tskhinvali succeeded in showing the good functionality of its electoral system and state institutions. "This functionality was there for everyone to see. Many observers had a chance to see that South Ossetia has all the necessary capabilities and institutions," Sergey Markov said.

In their coverage of the election campaign in South Ossetia many Western media stressed that this was the first election after the declarations of independence, the analyst said. "The Western press described this election as the first after South Ossetia declared independence. This is a significant error because Tskhinvali proclaimed independence more than 15 years ago. In actual fact, this was the first elections after Russia had recognized officially its independence," Sergey Markov said. At the same time, the fact itself of interest in this election shows a changed attitude to South Ossetia, even if "a prospect for wider international recognition is not very near".

The West has recognized South Ossetia de facto after the August events in the Caucasus. This time it confirmed informal recognition, Igor Bunin, director of the Centre for Political Technologies, thinks. "The West has put up with it de facto but this happened immediately after the events of August 2008 and the official recognition of South Ossetia by Russia. The West had no other choice. The interest the Western media showed in the election confirmed this fact even if nothing has changed legally," Igor Bunin told Interfax. The analyst added that the presence of observers from other countries besides Russia was telling too. "Apart from Russian observers, there were representatives of international organizations and a deputy of the European Parliament," Igor Bunin said. [Passage omitted].