Belarusian lawmakers decided on November 5 to set up a working group that will develop a position on possible recognition of breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The group of Belarusian lawmakers will travel to Georgia and its breakaway regions on November 17-20 and also hold consultations with their counterparts from the Russian State Duma in Moscow, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reported.

According to the same report, Sergey Matskevich, the chairman of the parliamentary international affairs commission, said that after the visit the commission will decide if it is necessary to hold a debate in parliament over the possible recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said in September that his country’s parliament would consider the issue of recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He also said that any foreign pressure on the matter, “even from our brotherly country” – an apparent reference to Russia – would be unacceptable for Minsk.