The newest period of South Ossetian-Russian relations began, unfortunately, with tragic pages of the history of South Ossetia.
In 1991, Georgia launched open military aggression against South Ossetia. Taking advantage of South Ossetia's lack of access to the central mass media of the Soviet Union, the Georgian authorities succeeded in creating an image of "South Ossetian separatists", although it is absurd to call separatists those people who do not want to leave their state.
This allowed isolating the then authorities of South Ossetia (although they were formed in full accordance with the requirements of Soviet laws) from the union information sphere. We remember how rudely the Union leaders interrupted attempt of people's deputies of the Supreme Soviet of South Ossetia to draw the attention of the highest authority to the extermination of the South Ossetians In particular, the then Minister of Internal Affairs Bakatin directly accused Nafi Dzhussoyty of spreading provocative fabrications and turned off his microphone. By that time, half of the villages of South Ossetia had already been burnt.
Against this backdrop, one can imagine how much support there was, against the background of the fierce opposition of the powerful Eduard Shevardnadze, the publications in the Russian mass media, of the resolution of the Supreme Council of Russia in defense of South Ossetia.
In 1989, Georgia also committed aggression against South Ossetia, which lasted until March 1990. Tskhinval was in the ring of a transport blockade, Ossetians, who fell into the hands of Georgian armed formations, were beaten and tortured. However, at that time, the Union Center's positions were still strong, and allied media did not say a word about this almost half-year execution of the Ossetian people. The internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR subordinate to the allied center, referring to the fact that the leadership of the GSSR declared a state of emergency only in Tskhinval and Dzau district, did not protect the Ossetian population of Tskhinval, Znaur and Leningor districts, which was physically destroyed after the terrible tortures of all available means.
But since 1991, with the weakening of the allied center and the growing influence of the forces advocating the strengthening of Russia, the voice of truth began to sound more actively on the formally Soviet TV channels, on the pages of formally still central Soviet newspapers.
The withdrawal of troops from Tskhinval in April 1992 was perceived and is still perceived by the people as a betrayal. However, I propose to recall the realities of those days. These troops were in South Ossetia as the Soviet ones. By April 1992, the Soviet Union has already collapsed. But even under Soviet rule, as I have already mentioned, these troops were completely useless in the matter of protecting the South Ossetians. Therefore, their withdrawal did not affect the defense capability of the defenders of the Fatherland. Moreover, we remember the ugly episodes of the confiscation of rifles from the self-defense detachment in the Oak Grove, the export and transfer of the arms and ammunition of the Tskhinval military unit to the Georgian side, the extradition of civilians taken from some Ossetian villages by Soviet troops to the Georgian armed detachments, which were immediately brutally killed. For example, the pupil of grade 11 of the 9th school Arkady Dudaev, the victims of the Ered tragedy and others.
The attitude of the Russian structures, both political and military, contrasts sharply with the attitude of the Soviet ones.
First of all, this is evidenced by the behavior of the Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who once in a polite manner asked Georgia to stop torturing the South Ossetian. But, seeing that the Georgian side does not accept the calmly expressed will of Russia, in 1992, Boris Yeltsin talked with the head of Georgia in a completely different tone. Arguments of a humanitarian nature, he quite appropriately supported with expressive punches on the table, which allowed the leadership of Georgia to better understand what is required of him, and the peace agreement was signed.
Early in the morning on July 14, 1992 peacekeeping battalions of Russia and North Ossetia entered South Ossetia. Unlike the Georgian peacekeeping battalion, treacherously and secretly leaving the site of deployment, the Russian and Ossetian battalions honorably maintained peace for all 16 long years of peacekeeping operation, which was recognized as the best in the history of international peacekeeping operations around the world.
Already in about a year, on the initiative of Russia, the first Russian-Georgian intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in restoring the "zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict" was signed (this formulation was adopted, since Georgia categorically refused to recognize even the geographical name "South Ossetia") for a period of five years. After the expiration of its term, a second agreement was signed, which legitimized the supply of electricity from Russia to South Ossetia, bypassing the energy system of Georgia. Although South Ossetia was not recognized in those years, such decisions step by step created the basis for recognition of independence in future
Since 2002, the South Ossetian-Russian relations are experiencing an active recovery. Since 2004, uninterrupted supply of electricity and natural gas has been resumed in South Ossetia, salaries, pensions, scholarships and social benefits have increased.
But the culmination of Russian-South Ossetian relations was the heroic liberation mission of the Russian Army in August 2008, when the people of South Ossetia, doomed to the complete destruction by the Georgian strategic military plan "Clean Field", at the cost of the incredible efforts of the Russian soldier were literally ripped from the ruthless paws of Georgian aggressors and invaders.
After the war, Russia officially recognized the state independence of South Ossetia; dozens of interstate agreements between our states were signed. Some units of the armed forces of South Ossetia joined the Russian army, the unions of writers of South Ossetia and North Ossetia, which is part of Russia, are united. The integration process covered new and new areas.
The further events took place just yesterday, they are happening today, before our very eyes, and are known to most of our citizens. There is no need to list them and describe each of them in detail in a small article.
Undoubtedly, they are a reflection of the historically established traditionally fraternal relations between the small people of South Ossetia and the great people of the Russian Federation.
