# South Ossetia > [!info] Not a country page > South Ossetia — the "Tskhinvali Region" in Georgian official usage — is a breakaway region of [[Georgia (country)]] recognized by only four states, Russia among them. It is filed beside the country pages as a regional page, like [[Abkhazia]] and [[Transnistria]]. For context see [[Post-Soviet States]]. **South Ossetia** is the small mountain region north of Gori where the August 2008 war began, and in 2026 the post-Soviet frozen conflict closest to outright absorption into Russia. In May it signed a treaty merging its foreign, defense and infrastructure policy with Moscow's; in June its leader resigned to join Putin's staff; in September a Russian federal official from North Ossetia was elected to replace him. | Item | Detail | |---|---| | First war | January 1991 – June 1992; about 1,000 dead; ended by the Dagomys (Sochi) Agreement of 24 June 1992, which created a Georgian–Russian–Ossetian peacekeeping force | | Russian recognition | 26 August 2008, after the war that began here | | Recognized by | Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, [[Syria]]; **Nauru withdrew in July 2026** | | Population | About 56,500 (2022 estimate; Georgia disputes the figures); about 90% Ossetian at the 2015 census | | De facto president | [[Marat Kambolov]], elected 18 September 2026 with 84.95% on 82.65% turnout (official count); inaugurated 30 September | | Russian forces | 4th Guards Military Base in Tskhinvali and Java, about 4,500 troops under a 49-year agreement of 2010 *[troop number single-sourced]* | ## 2026: annexation in all but name | Date | Development | |---|---| | 9 May 2026 | The "Treaty on Deepening Allied Cooperation" is signed in the Kremlin: coordinated foreign and defense policy, merged energy, transport and telecoms, and Russian citizens eligible for South Ossetian state posts. [[Vladimir Putin]] signs the ratification law on 25 May | | 16 June 2026 | Marat Kambolov — from North Ossetia, head of Russia's Kurchatov Institute from 2021 to 2025 — is appointed prime minister | | 23 June 2026 | President Alan Gagloev resigns to become an adviser in Putin's administration; Kambolov becomes acting president | | 18 September 2026 | Kambolov wins the de facto presidential election against three token candidates; the EU calls the result "null and void" | | 30 September 2026 | Inaugurated in Tskhinvali before delegations from Russia, Abkhazia, Nicaragua and Venezuela | South Ossetia scheduled a referendum on joining Russia for July 2022 and called it off that May. The 2026 route reaches a similar place without a vote: the region's institutions are being staffed and governed from Russia while it formally remains a separate entity. Analysts quoted by OC Media expect deeper integration with North Ossetia rather than a formal annexation, and the EU has objected to a Russian official being installed at the top. ## Borderization Since 2011 Russian forces have moved fences and barbed wire along the administrative boundary line into Georgian-controlled land — about 50 km of it by 2014 — and detain Georgian villagers who cross it, knowingly or not. The region reported detaining 15 people in April 2025 alone. On the night of 6–7 November 2023, Russian FSB border guards shot dead Tamaz Ginturi near Kirbali, the first such killing on that line since 2008. The EU Monitoring Mission patrols the Georgian side and is refused entry to the region. ## Why it matters here South Ossetia is the frozen conflict where the "freeze" is ending in Russia's favor. [[Transnistria]] is being squeezed back toward Moldova; [[Abkhazia]] resists Russian terms while depending on Russian money; South Ossetia is being absorbed by personnel appointments and a treaty. Georgia's government, meanwhile, keeps formal hostility to Moscow over exactly these territories — see [[Irakli Kobakhidze]] — while its domestic politics move toward Moscow's model. See [[Post-Soviet States]]. ## See Also - [[Georgia (country)]] - [[Abkhazia]] - [[Marat Kambolov]] - [[Frozen Conflict]] - [[Transnistria]] - [[Post-Soviet States]]