South Ossetia proclaimed independence from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and a bloody conflict ensued there that only ended with the deployment of collective peacekeeping forces, including Russian troops.
Georgia has since repeatedly tried to resume control of South Ossetia, whose secessionist leaders seek a reunification with Russian North Ossetia, with which it is ethnically and historically tied.
The first juncture of the Dzaurikau-Tskhinvali pipeline has been welded 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) from Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, which is though to be the beginning of the end of the Georgian region's gas dependence on Tbilisi.
"Georgia will no longer be able to threaten a cutoff of energy supplies to South Ossetia," said Nikolai Makoyev, head of the North Ossetian government's department for relations with South Ossetia.
The 163-kilometer (101-mile) pipeline will be laid in some places at an altitude of over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) above sea level, and will be serviced by 11 gas distribution stations. Russia is expected to start supplying the self-proclaimed republic with natural gas in the third quarter of 2007.
