South Ossetia (RSO) is a state located in the Transcaucasus. It is partially recognized as independent, but many countries still do not recognize its independence. It has no borders with water banks. Until now, there are disputes regarding the legal and international status of this country. In many respects, this state of affairs has developed due to the heterogeneous national composition of the local population. Let's talk about what peoples live in this territory and what they aspire to.
Description
Russia, Nauru, Venezuela, and Nicaragua recognized the South Ossetia's claims to freedom as well-founded. In addition, the authorities of Abkhazia and a number of other unrecognized countries, such as the NKR and the DPR, partially agree with this. The Georgian government is of the opinion that this is only part of their territories. Even the constitution of this state contains statements that these lands were an autonomous region in the past, but certainly not in the present.
There are also documents in which the entire RSO is called the Tskhinvali region. During the 1922-1990s. there was autonomy here, which was part of the Georgian SSR, but then it was abolished.
Four districts were formed. South Ossetia is strongly supported by Russia in matters of a military, political and economic nature. In 2017, a referendum will be held, as a result of which the state may become part of the Russian Federation.
Outside support
Russians spoke favorably about the claims of the Ossetian population for autonomy from Georgia back in 2008, apparently with the intention of annexing this territory to the Russian Federation in the future. This view was shared by Nauru, Venezuela and Nicaragua the following year.
Representative offices of South Ossetia located abroad conduct their work. In 2011, its independence was recognized by the government of Tuvalu. Russian militants set up their base here, where 4 thousand people worked. Of course, the authority of the Russian Federation on the world stage cannot be denied. There are suggestions that other countries recognized South Ossetia as independent, only echoing their guardian, who helps them financially.
So, of course, there are many dark spots in this issue. It is hard to understand where is common sense and where is the instinct of self-preservation. Lavrov was accused of visiting Fiji in order to bribe the local authorities and win over the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Hanging
Another unrecognized state that supported South Ossetia is the LPR, which is also, in fact, under the influence of the Russian Federation and a special choice for expressing its own thoughts regarding thisdoes not have a situation. In 2015, an agreement was signed on the integration of South Ossetia and the Russian Federation. The fate of the republic is similar to that of many other territories that remain sandwiched between a few stronger players on the world stage. There is no strength and resources left for the struggle, and surrendering to a tyrant means giving up one's freedoms, culture and history. As a rule, such countries roam from hand to hand, being in a constant process of defending their own rights. But in the end, the new owner is kind and loyal only in words. No matter how noble his slogans are, any action is carried out for personal purposes. It remains only to remind from time to time that the patronage was accepted voluntarily, therefore, in the same way the republic can refuse it.
Perhaps in the near future South Ossetia will become part of the Russian Federation. I would like to believe that the government of the Russian Federation, in the event of a positive decision in its favor, will not forget about these promises and will treat the Ossetians as equals.
Administrative divisions
It is extremely important that in the future proper living conditions be provided, which the population of South Ossetia so needs after all the grave shocks. Settlements are made up of four districts: Dzau, Tskhinvali, as well as Znauri and Leningor. Only the capital Tskhinvali is under republican subordination. In fact, against the backdrop of the giants of the political scene, RSO, in which there are only 2 cities, seems to be a rather fragile state. It is clear that because of such smallsizes, it is just difficult to maintain their own rights to independence. Most people are concentrated in the center of the state. Of course, such a division for the Georgian authorities is something akin to the fantasies of the Ossetians, who decided to play free republic. In the views of this “big brother”, the territories have completely different names and in total constitute one of the parts of Georgia. The situation is very similar to the suspended state of the LPR, which is simultaneously claimed by the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Demographic dynamics
In 1989, many regions of the USSR, including South Ossetia, were studied in terms of the number of people and ethnic composition. The population census showed that at that time 98.53 thousand people lived in the country. It is interesting to note that in Tskhinvali, one of its two cities, 42.33 thousand people were counted. Referring to the data of the UN report, one can find out that until the summer of 2008, 83 thousand people lived in the South Administrative District.
In November 2006, the population of South Ossetia was 82,500 people. It is worth paying attention to the fact that not all of the current territory was controlled by the state. Only 68 thousand people could be called real legal citizens of the country. The same lands where 14 thousand people lived in 2008 were subordinated to Georgia. The national composition then was as follows: 58 thousand, or 70%, Ossetians, 22.5 thousand Georgians, which accounted for 27%, as well as other nationalities, whose share was 2 thousand people (3%). On the official Internet resource dedicated to the reign of the president of that time, data were published inaccording to which the population of South Ossetia in 2008 was 72 thousand people. In particular, 30,000 people lived on the territory of Tskhinvali.
Consequences of hostilities
At the end of the last decade, the population of South Ossetia has significantly decreased. The history of 2008 is full of disturbing and exciting moments that forced people to leave their homes and seek peace in other states. In 2009, they also made calculations, according to which the result was 50 thousand people, which was due to the events of August, during which there was an armed conflict aimed at fighting Georgia. Abkhazia and Russia also took part in the hostilities. In the summer of 2008, the situation escalated to the limit. The end of resistance was the entry of Russian troops into the battlefield to force peace.
Because of these sad events, the population of South Ossetia has declined significantly. There were many migrants and refugees. There was a threat that the number of people would drop to 26-32 thousand (17 thousand of them in Tskhinval), which is negligible compared to 1989 figures. Only 5 thousand people could remain in the metropolitan area, although the census Soviet times showed 23 thousand people. The same number - in the Dzau district, where previously there were 10 thousand people. Other regions showed the same dynamics.
Life after conflict
South Ossetia turned out to be quite a restless territory. The population may not be easy to calculate, for the reason that there are a large numberillegal immigrants. There is an outflow of people to Russia. Factors such as labor migration also have an impact. In 2011, rather vague data were given, according to which the population of South Ossetia ranges from 30-70 thousand people. In 2012, people were surveyed in various parts of the state. In total, 51.57 thousand people were counted. Of these, 28,66 thousand people lived in the capital. In 2013, the study was repeated to determine how many people there are in South Ossetia. 51,55 thousand people got the result. This year, 641 new people were born, and 531 citizens died. It is worth noting that in 2012 the situation was somewhat worse: 572/582, respectively, in 2011 - 658/575.
Current situation
The population of South Ossetia was also counted in the period of October 15-30, 2015. The results showed 51,000 people, of which 30,000 were residents of Tskhinvali, as well as 7,000 from the area near the capital. 16 thousand residential buildings were subject to accounting. So in 2016 there is an opportunity to find out the latest data on this issue. There are preliminary results that show that at this stage there are 53.56 thousand people in the country. 35 thousand of them live in cities, and 18.5 thousand people live in villages. By gender, the situation is as follows: traditionally more women - 27.85 thousand, representatives of the stronger sex 25.7 thousand
Nationalities
Mainly the population of South Ossetia consists of indigenous people. The ethnic composition is also characterized by the presence of several other groups such as Russian, Armenian,Jewish population. Ossetians in 2012 in the republic were 89.1%, visitors from Georgia - 8.9%, the number of Russians reached 1%, as well as other nationalities. Until 2008, they all lived peacefully in common settlements. When the armed conflict began, Ossetians began to leave their homes and move to Russia (34 thousand people, which accounted for 70% of this group in the country). The main refuge for them was North Ossetia-Alania.
Migration
A strong outflow to Georgia was also noticeable, due to which the population of South Ossetia also decreased. The ethnic composition changed due to the fact that there was an evacuation and an escape of people to their historical homeland. According to data calculated in the summer of 2008, their total number was 15 thousand people, which is equal to about 80% of this ethnic stratum. It is worth noting that those of them who lived in the Leningorsky district nevertheless returned to their homes, since the government of the Republic of South Ossetia made a special statement. Now they can move freely in the direction from Leningor to Tbilisi. Also in 2009, the indigenous population (1.2 thousand people) also returned, seeing that the conflict had been settled. The life of citizens is still turbulent, and the state of the country is in limbo. It remains to wait for the results of the 2017 referendum
