South Ossetian Leader Resigns to Become Putin Adviser

The leader of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia announced his resignation on Tuesday to serve as an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The move comes weeks after the ratification of a major integration deal between the region and Moscow.

"Today, our task is to fulfill our cherished dream — to overcome our fate as a divided people and reunite with North Ossetia, reunite with Great Russia," Moscow-backed President Alan Gagloyev said in a video address. "I have given my support to our historic leader, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and I am ready to stand alongside him," he added, stating he would immediately begin his work as an adviser to the Kremlin leader.

Gagloyev, who took office in 2022, said that Marat Kambolov would serve as interim president. Kambolov, a native of the Russian republic of North Ossetia in the North Caucasus, is a former Moscow bureaucrat who was recently appointed as South Ossetia's prime minister.

The leadership shuffle follows an agreement ratified last month by Putin, which aims to align South Ossetian laws more closely with Russia's. Under the deal, Moscow commits to providing social support benefits to the local population and raising living standards. Putin emphasized the trade, economic, and social cooperation aspects, while Gagloyev hailed it as "the beginning of the reunification of the Ossetian people."

In Georgia, both the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition groups have criticized the integration agreement as part of what they call the de facto annexation of South Ossetia by Moscow. Gagloyev said on Tuesday that as a Kremlin adviser, he would work alongside Putin to help implement the integration deal.

South Ossetia, along with the Black Sea region of Abkhazia, is internationally recognized as part of Georgia but has been under de facto Russian control since the two countries fought a brief war in August 2008. Russia maintains military bases in both breakaway territories.