South Ossetia’s Leader Quits, Becomes Putin Advisor Instead

The de facto leader of Georgia’s Russian-occupied South Ossetia region, Alan Gagloyev, resigned Tuesday to become an advisor to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, just weeks after the ratification of an integration agreement between the breakaway region and Moscow.

Gagloyev, who took office in 2022, announced his resignation in a video address to citizens, as reported by South Ossetian state news agency RES, stating he would immediately begin work in the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

“Today our task is to ensure that our cherished dream comes true – to overcome the fate of a divided people and reunite with North Ossetia, reunite with Great Russia,” Gagloyev said.

“I have given my support to our historic leader, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and I am ready to stand alongside him.”

In accordance with the republic’s Constitution, Prime Minister Marat Kambolov – a former Moscow bureaucrat from Russia’s North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia – was named interim president.

Moscow’s integration push

Gagloyev said Putin personally proposed the advisory role during a meeting the day before his official resignation, asking him to help implement the Treaty on Deepening Allied Interaction with Russia, signed on May 9.

Under the agreement, South Ossetia committed to gradually align its civil, tax, labor, and social legislation with Russia’s, while Moscow agreed to provide social guarantees, improved living standards, and pension support for the republic’s citizens.

Other Topics of Interest

Kremlin Insists Economy Is Stable as Budget Deficit Hits $80B

The Kremlin says Russia’s macroeconomic stability is “absolutely secured,” even as its budget deficit surpasses $80 billion (approximately €70 billion) and oil prices tumble to around $65 per barrel (roughly $1.55 per gallon or €0.38 per liter).

The treaty aims to establish a single economic space with free movement of capital, goods, service and labor, alongside unified energy, transport and telecommunications systems. 

It also enables citizens of both countries to hold public office on each other’s territory.

Georgia frames the integration deal as annexation

While Putin has highlighted the economic and social aspects of the May 9 Treaty, Gagloyev framed the agreement as a step toward formally joining Russia, according to The Moscow Times.

In Georgia, both the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition groups condemned the integration treaty as de facto annexation of South Ossetian territory by Moscow.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia are internationally recognized as parts of Georgia, but have remained under Russian control since the 2008 war, with Moscow maintaining active military bases in both territories.

Russia tightens political grip amid battlefield pressure

The political consolidation of South Ossetia comes as Russia faces mounting military pressure from Ukraine.

According to United24Media, Putin told military and security academy graduates at the Kremlin that the surge in Ukrainian drone strikes targeting domestic infrastructure was a calculated strategy intended to incite public fear and slow Russian battlefield progress.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Ukrainian forces struck the Tyumen (“Antipinsky”) oil refinery on June 20. The facility, located more than 2,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, is one of the largest refineries in western Siberia.

The military also confirmed strikes overnight into June 21 on the “TES-Terminal-1” oil facility in Kerch, a key transshipment and storage for fuels used by the Russian occupation forces. 

So far, Putin has not mentioned a recent strike that severely damaged a critical oil refinery in Moscow, instead framing Russia’s war against Ukraine as a psychological operations campaign directed against his country.