SOUTH OSSETIA DISPUTEHISTORY BEHIND THE BREAKAWAY REGION’S PUSH FOR INDEPENDENCE
Helen Womack in Moscow

guardian.co.uk
August 08 2008

Article history Why has fighting broken out in South Ossetia?

The South Ossetians and Georgians have been sniping at each other,
both with words and guns, for several weeks now, and patience on both
sides has finally snapped. South Ossetia and Georgia’s other breakaway
region, Abkhazia, have had de facto independence since the early 1990s,
but Tbilisi has never recognised the loss of its territory. The dispute
between Georgia and the two regions was called "the frozen conflict"
because the issues remained unresolved but there was no fighting. The
ice began to melt, and the heat to rise, earlier this year when the
west recognised Kosovo, against Russia’s advice. The South Ossetians
and Abkhazians argued that if Kosovo could be independent, then so
could they, and renewed their struggle for freedom.

What is the basis of the regions’ claim to independence?

The Ossetians are descendants of a tribe called the Alans. Like the
Georgians, the Ossetians are orthodox Christians, but they have their
own language. In Soviet times the Ossetians had an autonomous region
within Georgia. The Georgians say the Ossetians cooperated with the
Bolsheviks and tended to be more pro-Soviet. Their ethnic kin live
across the border in the Russian region of North Ossetia, so they feel
more drawn to Russia than to Georgia – and many have Russian passports.

Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast also had autonomy within Georgia
during Soviet times. Because of its sub-tropical climate, it was the
playground of Soviet leaders and is popular with Russian tourists
today. It has a mixed population of Abkhazis, Mingrelians, Greeks,
Armenians, Russians and Georgians, and a small but significant Muslim
minority. Thousands of ethnic Georgians fled their homes in Abkhazia
during the civil war at the beginning of the 1990s and now live as
refugees in Tbilisi and Moscow.

Why has Russia become involved?

Russia says it cannot stand aside because many of the people in
the breakaway regions are now its citizens. Georgia says Russia is
meddling in its internal affairs and supporting the separatists,
although Russia’s peacekeepers are supposed to be neutral. Georgia
accuses Russia of double standards in suppressing its own separatist
rebellion in Chechnya while encouraging separatists in Georgia. Russia
has become more engaged in the region since Georgia expressed an
interest in joining Nato, an idea that Russia staunchly opposes.

What might happen next?

So far, this has been a proxy war, with Russia encouraging
the separatists, but Moscow and Tblisi could find themselves
in direct conflict. Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir Putin,
today accused Georgia of aggression and warned that a response
was inevitable. Georgia said Russian jets had started bombing its
territory.

What are the wider implications?

The conflict could widen to bring in other Soviet republics, the US and
Europe. The root of the problem is that the international community
cannot agree on rules for the independence of small regions. Russia
said that granting independence to Kosovo would set a dangerous
precedent. Moscow now seems determined to prove it was right all along.