| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Russian support for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which came about as a result of a number of circumstances, may play the role of a catalyst for Russia's modernization, but the two territories are very different and require different approaches.
A spontaneous development is likely to turn Abkhazia into a Russian health spa and military appendage, and this is unacceptable because it is fraught with complicating relations and losing existing opportunities. Rather than focusing on using Abkhazia as a potential health resort, Russia should build the missing financial and technological elements of its own economy there. By creating instruments of modernization outside its territory - where they would be protected from Russian kleptocracy and monopolies - Russia could see a dress rehearsal of its own modernization.
South Ossetia does not exist as an economic entity due to its small size and extremely low-level management. Russia must bring rudimentary order to South Ossetia's finances and thus lay the groundwork for the reunification of the Ossetian people within the Russian Federation.
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