Residents of South Ossetia mark Independence Day

Today, delegations from the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), Transnistria, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh came to celebrate the recognition of independence of South Ossetia.

A solemn sitting on the occasion was held in the conference hall of the Republic's Government.

"The Ossetians, including southern ones, don't think of their future apart from Russia. The once proclaimed slogan 'Russia and Ossetia are together forever!' has always been actual. Our generation is filling it with a new practical content," Leonid Tibilov, President of South Ossetia, said during the sitting.

The event brought together guests from Nagorno-Karabakh, led by the MP Armen Sargsyan, and delegations of the Federation Council and State Duma of the Russian Federation, Dagestan, Chechnya, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and the Stavropol Territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated his South-Ossetian counterpart Leonid Tibilov on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of recognition of the republic's sovereignty and promised to render "full support and assistance" to the republic.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had treated the recognition by Russia of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as "lawlessness". On August 28, 2008, the Georgian Parliament voted to break diplomatic relations with Russia and confirmed the status of the Russian troops deployed in the territory of the country as "occupational".