Medvedev promises South Ossetia more aid, including military

VLADIKAVKAZ, August 8 (RIA Novosti) – On the anniversary of the start
of the Russia-Georgia war President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow
would continue to provide South Ossetia with social and economic aid,
as well as military assistance.
"Russia will assist you in everything from the economic and social
point of view. We of course will even provide aid for military issues,
because without military assistance there will be more problems,"
Medvedev said at a meeting with South Ossetians.
Some 162 civilians and 67 Russian service personnel, including
peacekeepers, were killed when Georgia attacked the former Georgian
republic of South Ossetia last August. Russia reacted swiftly
expelling Georgian troops from the region and subsequently recognized
both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian republic.
Talking about his recent visit to Tskhinvali, the capital of South
Ossetia, Medvedev said "There are signs of new life – new homes,
schools. Of course, a year won’t solve everything, but the most
important thing is there is a future."
Russia has allocated some 10 billion rubles ($321 million) to South
Ossetia for projects to rebuild infrastructure destroyed during the
August war.
Medvedev also said that Russia’s operation to force Georgia to peace
did not complicate foreign relations.
"In the end [the operation] did not complicate our relations with
other countries… for one simple reason whatever anyone says,
everyone, in actual fact, is fully aware that the truth was on our
side," he announced.
"Russia was in the right from the legal and moral standpoint,"
Medvedev said during an award ceremony for veterans from the South
Ossetian conflict in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz.