Russian President Dmitry Medvedev congratulated South Ossetian President-Elect Leonid Tibilov on Tuesday following his victory in Sunday’s runoff election, and pledged him support in resolving the breakaway state's social and economic problems, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
“I am sure South Ossetia will continue towards solving crucial social-economic problems and ensuring stability under your tenure. The republic can fully rely on Russia’s sincere support,” Medvedev wrote to Tibilov.
Former South Ossetian KGB head Tibilov, 60, won over 54 percent of the vote in the Sunday runoff, which was condemned by Georgia and welcomed by Russian lawmakers.
The Russian President stressed Russia's hope for building on relations with South Ossetia, “based on traditions of friendship and neighborliness of our people.”
Georgia sharply criticized the South Ossetian presidential elections, saying “the Tskhinval region remains an occupied Georgian territory and any attempt to carry out any form of legitimate act will not be considered legitimate until those expelled on ethnic grounds have the right to vote.”
South Ossetia is only recognized as an independent state by a handful of countries, including Russia, which fought a five-day war against Georgia over the republic in August 2008. South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990's, after Georgia broke away from the Soviet Union and then collapsed into civil war.
The vast majority of South Ossetians are Russian passport holders.
The republic held a first round presidential vote in November, when opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva defeated pro-Kremlin candidate Anatoly Bibilov, but the results were anulled by the republic’s supreme court over alleged vote rigging by Dzhioyeva, who was banned from running in the next round.
She refused to recognize the court's decision, but her protests were met by a police raid on her office and she was briefly hospitalized with heart problems.
Dzhioyeva declared Sunday’s polls “illegitimate” but said she was happy that the country finally had a leader.
