MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti) - Belarus will soon recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, the state secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union State said on Wednesday.

Russia recognized the two republics as independent states on August 26, two weeks after the end of a five-day war with Georgia, which began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia to bring it back under central control. So far, only Nicaragua has followed suit.

"The Belarusian parliament will consider the [recognition] requests that we officially handed to [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko," Pavel Borodin said. "I think that Belarus will formally recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia's independence."

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, whose country has been trying to establish a union with Russia and is dependent on Russian energy supplies, said earlier he would back parliament if it chose to recognize the breakaway regions.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been given observer status in parliamentary sessions of the Russia-Belarus Union State.