South Ossetia leader resigns to join Putin administration

The leader of South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia that is backed by Russia, ​said on Tuesday that he is resigning to ‌become an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an address published on a South Ossetian government website, Alan Gagloyev said ​he was resigning with immediate effect to take ​up a job in Russia's presidential administration, and ⁠handing over the presidency to his prime minister.

He said ​he would be helping to implement a treaty signed ​between South Ossetia and Russia last year, which he said would bring forward what he said was a "cherished dream" of the ​tiny territory's incorporation into Russia.

South Ossetia, which has ​a population of around 50,000, first broke away from Georgia amid ‌the ⁠collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, securing de facto independence with Russian backing.

In 2008, Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over the territory, ​with Georgian forces ​driven from ⁠parts of South Ossetia they had previously controlled.

Russia and a handful of other ​countries subsequently recognised both it and Abkhazia, ​another breakaway ⁠Georgian region, as independent states.

Successive South Ossetian leaders have repeatedly said they want the territory to become part ⁠of ​Russia in future, but both local ​authorities and Moscow have stopped short of holding a vote on annexation.

-Reuters