"The Russian side was not informed of the intention to hold a referendum in South Ossetia on the issue of unification with the Russian Federation," South Ossetian de-facto President Alan Gagloev said at a press conference in Tskhinvali on June 21, following consultations between the de-facto South Ossetian delegation and Russian officials. 

"We have an Alliance and Integration Treaty with the Russian side, the first article of which provides for the cooperation and coordination of all foreign policy vector measures." “Here, the scenario has developed such that we are uniting with the Russian Federation, but they are unaware of it.” Gagloev added, "We have all stated that we support a referendum and that we want South Ossetia to join Russia.”

According to the separatist president, a number of procedures were developed with the Russian side in order to forward this matter. He further raised the issue of the referendum's name, which was also brought up by Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's spokesman, who stated that Russia cannot unite with any state, referring to the entire issue as a "legal incident" that must be resolved. 

Read also:

Alan Gagloev met with Russian officials in Moscow

Additional responses to the canceled referendum in Tskhinvali

Alan Gagloev suspends annexation referendum

Alan Gagloev inaugurated