South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian republic, asked Tbilisi to help repair the damaged water pipes going to the republic via Georgian villages. Tbilisi, which seeks to reinstate control over the republic, said South Ossetia must address its "alternative president," Dmitry Sankoyev, appointed by Georgia.
"Upon Georgia's insistent request, ... water supplies to Georgian and Ossetian populations have been resumed in the area," the spokesman said.
South Ossetia started drilling its own artesian wells Wednesday to resume water supplies amid a two-week water crisis with Georgia in extremely high temperatures.
South Ossetia broke away from Georgia following a bloody conflict in the early 1990s. Tbilisi has accused Moscow, which has supported South Ossetia in diplomatic tensions with Georgia, of fuelling separatist sentiments in the unrecognized republic.
