On September 11, 2008, during a meeting of the Valdai Club with Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Carrère d’ Encausse asked Putin if he would respond positively to Kokoity’s demand for integration of South Ossetia into the Russian Federation. She wrote: “Vladimir Putin answered with the greatest firmness that such a hypothesis was excluded. He explained that if Russia in this specific case was unable to ignore the will of the Ossetian people to be independent, it was firm regarding the principles of respecting the inviolability of existing frontiers. This principle, according to him, applied without exception to the Russian Federation which could not, therefore, welcome into its midst a nation or territory that so desired.” Putin’s double-talk (he is speaking about the “inviolability of existing frontiers” just after having changed the frontiers of Georgia by brutal force) brings her to the – naive – conclusion that “the blunt refusal that was opposed to the Ossetian demand for integration into Russia makes the Russian position clear: the August intervention in Georgia.. could lead to a settlement of a conflict between Georgia and its separatist minorities, [but] in no case to a dossier that was of interest to Russia.” [237] . Anonymous
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The phrase in the quote above can be interpreted in two ways. Some might say that Putin is saying that the Russian Federation could not integrate the region of South Ossetia into it, but others may take it to mean that he cannot accept South Ossetia's independence. However, the former is definitely not true. The Russian Federation has already taken control of South Ossetia without any resistance. It could easily justify its actions under Article 51 of the UN Charter which reads "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security."

Source: Putins Wars: The Rise Of Russias New Imperialism

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