Putin Meets With South Ossetian Leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Moscow today with the leader of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The two leaders spoke about an agreement signed in March to integrate South Ossetia into Russia.

Putin said the deal was being implemented despite not having yet been ratified by Russia’s parliament.

The South Ossetian leader, Leonid Tibilov, said his people were grateful for the assistance Putin had provided. Russia tightened its control over South Ossetia in March, when Putin and Tibilov signed a new treaty that calls for nearly full integration, and formally incorporates South Ossetia’s economy and military into Russia’s.

This and other similar moves by Russia to strengthen its political reach and even expand its territory have been condemned by European and other Western nations, but efforts to prevent them have not slowed Russia down. South Ossetia clearly seems to view Russia as the most reliable guarantor of its security in the future.