TBILISI — Alan Gagloyev, leader of the breakaway South Ossetia region backed by Russia, announced on June 23 that he is resigning immediately to become an adviser in Russia’s presidential administration, handing the presidency to his prime minister.
In a statement posted on the South Ossetian government website, Gagloyev said he would help implement a treaty signed last year with Moscow that he said advances the territory’s long-held aim of eventual incorporation into Russia. South Ossetia, home to roughly 50,000 people, declared de facto independence from Georgia after the Soviet Union’s collapse and has remained under Russian protection since a brief war between Russia and Georgia in 2008.
Moscow and a small number of other states have recognised South Ossetia and neighbouring Abkhazia as independent, while most of the international community continues to treat them as part of Georgia. Successive South Ossetian leaders have voiced a desire for full union with Russia, but neither local authorities nor Moscow have proceeded with a formal referendum on annexation.
Gagloyev’s move to Moscow underscores the close political and security ties between the region’s leadership and the Kremlin and is likely to shape South Ossetia’s future relations with both Russia and Georgia.