MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, will sign an agreement on cooperation with the parliament of South Ossetia in Moscow on Tuesday.

Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov told journalists on Monday that his South Ossetian counterpart, Znaur Gassiyev, will arrive in the Russian capital for the signing.

The South Ossetian delegation will also include two deputy parliamentary speakers and a foreign policy advisor to the republic's President Eduard Kokoity.

The contents of the interparliamentary agreement has been approved by the Russian and South Ossetian parliaments, and is a standard document that Russia signs with any independent state, a source in the Federation Council said.

"Usually these agreements include bilateral contacts, setting up joint committees and working groups to deal with legal issues and their coordination, as well as developing interstate cooperation and partnership at an interparliamentary level," the source said.

The Federation Council speaker said that a similar agreement is expected to be concluded in the near future with another rebel region, Abkhazia.

Russia officially recognized the Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on August 26, saying the move was needed to protect the regions following Georgia's military offensive on August 8 in which hundreds of civilians died and thousands were forced to flee.