The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast was created in 1922 after the Soviet occupation of Georgia in the part of historical Georgian province Shida Kartli. Generally speaking, Georgians and Ossetians have been living in peace with each other except for the episodes in 1918–1920. Both ethnicities have had a high level of interaction and a high rate of intermarriages.
In the late 1980s, rising nationalism in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) and country’s movement towards independence were opposed by the Ossetian nationalistic organization, Ademon Nykhas (Popular Front), which demanded greater autonomy for the region and finally, unification with Russia’s North Ossetia. On November 10, 1989, the South Ossetian Supreme Soviet approved a decision to unite South Ossetia with the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. However, a day later, the Georgian SSR Supreme Soviet revoked the decision and on 23 November, thousands of Georgian nationalists led by Zviad Gamsakhurdia and other opposition leaders marched to Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, to hold a meeting there. The Ossetians mobilized blocking the road and only the interference of Soviet Army units could avoid the clash between the two demonstrations. The Soviet commanders made Georgian demonstrators turn back. However, several people were wounded in subsequent clashes between Georgians and Ossetians.
On 20 September 1990, the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast declared independence as the South Ossetian Democratic Soviet Republic, appealing to Moscow to recognise it as an independent subject of the Soviet Union. When the election of the Georgian Supreme Council took place in October 1990, it was boycotted by the South Ossetians. On December 10, 1990, South Ossetia held its own elections, declared illegal by Georgia. A day later, Georgian Supreme Soviet canceled the results of the Ossetian elections and abolished South Ossetian autonomy.[1]
On December 11, 1990, several bloody incidents occurred in and around Tskhinvali. Georgian government declared a state of emergency in the districts of Tskhinvali and Java on December 12. Georgian police and National Guards units were dispatched in the region to disarm Ossetian armed groups.
It should be noted that at the time of the dissolution of the USSR, the United States government recognized as legitimate the pre-Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 1933 borders of the country (the Franklin D. Roosevelt government established diplomatic relations with the Kremlin at the end of that year[2]). Because of this, the George H. W. Bush administration openly supported the restoration of independence of the Baltic SSRs, but regarded the questions related to the independence and territorial conflicts of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the rest of the Transcaucasus — which were integral part of the USSR with international borders unaltered since the 1920s — as internal Soviet affairs.[3]
The ceasefire
Georgian and Ossetian sides began Russian and OSCE-mediated negotiations on peaceful regulation of the conflict on October 30, 1995. The major break through in negotiation happened in May 1996 when the two sides signed a 'Memorandum on measures for providing security and joint confidence' in which the two sides renounced the use of force. This was followed up by several meetings between then-President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze, and de facto President of South Ossetia Ludwig Chibirov, and their respective heads of governments.
Refugees resettled in the zone of conflict but still only in small numbers, the major obstacle being the economic situation in the region. Numerous small steps of co-operation between Georgians and Ossetians took place.
The absence of central control over the region,[5] the loose authority of the South Ossetian government,[citation needed] and the region’s contiguity to the Russian Federation, through North Ossetia,[citation needed] have made it[citation needed][clarify] a locus of uncontrolled trade between Russia and South Caucasus. The Ergneti market on the outskirts of Tskhinvali was a large trade hub through which smuggling lost Georgia significant revenue.[5] This trade increased support for the breakaway Kokoity regime.[5] The unresolved conflict encouraged development of such illegal activities as kidnapping, drug-trafficking and arms trading.[6]
The 2004 flare-up
In May 2004, following the success in another poorly-controlled province of Ajara, President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government turned their attention to South Ossetia. Saakashvili offered humanitarian aid to both the Georgian and Ossetian population and promised to give the region broad autonomy.[7]
In mid-June, Georgian police shut down the Ergneti market, which was a major trading point for tax-free goods from Russia. They established strong measures to combat smuggling, the mainstay of the local economy.[citation needed]
These Georgian actions made the situation more tense. In retaliation, South Ossetian forces closed the highway between Russia and Georgia for several days. Georgia's regional administration began to restore the roads between Georgian-populated Patara Liakhvi and Didi Liakhvi gorges by-passing separatist-controlled capital Tskhinvali and dispatched military patrols to control them. On July 7, Georgian peacekeepers intercepted a Russian convoy carrying military equipment, including missiles, which led to tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow. The next day, around 50 Georgian peacekeepers were disarmed and detained by the South Ossetian militias. In retaliation, Saakashvili refused to attend peace talks. Large numbers of Georgian and Ossetian forces moved into the border areas, and there was frequent shooting for several days. The Georgian soldiers captured were all released on July 9, with three exceptions.
Tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow continued to worsen when the Russian Duma passed a resolution supporting the South Ossetian secessionists. The fellow unrecognized states Abkhazia and Transnistria, Cossack communities of Russia and the North Ossetians promised to support South Ossetia if Georgia attacked. Hundreds of Russian volunteers, mainly Cossacks, arrived in South Ossetia to defend the separatist government.
A ceasefire deal was reached on August 13, after three nights of gun and mortar fire. The agreement was signed by Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian de facto President Eduard Kokoity. However, the agreement was violated shortly after the signing. The bloodiest clashes occurred on August 18 and August 19. On August 19, after the overnight fighting with several killed and wounded on the both sides, Georgian forces seized a strategic hill near the Ossetian village of Trianakhana, from which the South Ossetian militias and volunteers were shelling Georgian villages. However, shortly after the successful operation, President Mikheil Saakashvili announced that Georgia will give “a last chance for peace” to the South Ossetians and added that Tbilisi will pullout its non-peacekeeping troops from the conflict zone in exchange of peace. Georgian troops handed over strategic hilltops in the conflict zone to the joint peacekeeping forces late on the same day. As reported, 16 Georgians and dozens of Ossetian and Russian volunteers died during the August fighting.
At a high level meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity on 5 November in Sochi, Russia, an agreement on demilitarisation of the conflict zone was signed. Some exchange of fire continued in the zone of conflict, apparently primarily initiated by the Ossetian side.[
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