Will Moscow turn red light on for Kokoity?

Levan Kiknadze

The Club of Exsperts

In mid-April, before the so-called presidential elections in the Tskhinvali region, Kokoity who counts last days of his term as a chief puppet, decided to present his "successor", so-called prosecutor general of "South Ossetia" Teimuraz Khugaev to his masters in Moscow. After all Khugaev will indeed conceal black deeds of Kokoity better than anyone else. And in case of becoming a president the latter will not forget Kokoity's service and will allow no one to dig into his past. And although they arrived there they were unable to meet Prime Minister Putin for some unknown reasons. We do not know whether they attempted to meet with President Medvedev on this issue or not. But the fact is that evil tongues say that disappointed Kokoity came back with his tail between his legs. On top of this he found out that in the beginning of April his personal enemy Dzambolat (Diki) Tadeev met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow and acquired his permission to participate in the so-called presidential elections and that he even decided to come to the Tskhinvali region to start election campaign. On April 17th as soon as he came back from Moscow Eduard Kokoity met with his supporters in the Tskhinvali theatre where he protested against forthcoming visit of Dzambolat Tedeev to Tskhinvali.

On April 18th Dzambolat Tedeev visited Tskhinvali together with president of the federation of freestyle wrestling of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili. In order to control movement of supporters of Tedeev and other opposition forces, at the instruction of Kokoity a special unit of the so-called KGB of "South Ossetia" was deployed at the south portal of the Roki tunnel. As we know at the police post in Tskhinvali (near the so-called little bridge) "OMON" of so-called South Ossetia arranged a provocation for Tedeev which became a basis for a case to be instituted against Tedeev on charges of assault of workers of law enforcement agencies. Following Tedeev's visit in Tskhinvali supporters of Kokoity actively started issuing "compromising" materials about Tedeev on TV and internet. Tedeev was mentioned as Tediashvili and as a person close to Georgians. Attention was drawn to the fact of his visit to Tskhinvali together with Mikheil Mamiashvili and the latter was mentioned as a criminal of Georgian origin. At instruction of Kokoity himself workers of the defence ministry led by deputy defence minsiter Gasiev go to homes of Tadeev's supporters and threaten them with physical violence.

To prevent Tedeev and at the instruction of Kokoity on April 20th so-called South Ossetian Parliament adopted a resolution according to which a candidate for presidency of "South Ossetia" can become a person that lived in the Tskhinvali region for the last 10 years.

Despite this Tedeev continues to strengthen his positions.

Opposition of Kokoity established in Vladikavkaz a public movement For Fair Elections that is financed by Tedeev. One of its leaders is former secretary of the security service of so-called South Ossetia Anatoly Barankevich. Members of non-governmental organization XXI Century (head Temur Tskhovrebov) such as Sarmat Parastaev, Liana Tedeeva and member of the opposition Fatima Margieva are also involved in activities of the above-mentioned organization. Starting from this May opposition newspaper Pozitsia will start to be published and it will be financed by Tedeev and headed by Akhsar Kochiev and Fatima Margieva. Anti-Kokoity literature, leaflets and t-shirts with images of Tedeev and other opposition leaders are coming secretly from Vladikavkaz. With his tactic of introducing changes into the registration norms of a presidential candidate Kokoity managed to only partially block Dzambolat Tedeev. As information was issued that allegedly in the middle of May Tedeev again met with Putin who told him that if he were to find a worthy candidate for participation in the so-called South Ossetian presidential elections the government of the Russian Federation would support him. Later J. Tedeev met with a member of the So-called South Ossetian parliament and head of the Tskhinvali bread-baking plant Vadim (Bulki) Tskhovrebov. As it is known in April the latter was physically assaulted by Kokoity bodyguards in the woods near Tskhinvali as he intended to introduce his candidacy in the presidential elections. Tedeev managed to compel him to agree and promised all kind of support.

After this Kokoity probably assessed reasonably that he would not be able to get his candidate through, which would practically mean victory, and decided to play to the end. As we know his supporters have already came out with an "initiative" of holding a referendum. An initiative group led by first deputy "defence minister" Ibragim Gasiev was formed (with headquarters in the building of the Tskhinvali central library. The headquarters was headed by head of the Cadet school Artur Tadtaev). On May 14th the first meeting of the initiative group was held which was attended by heads of heads of administrations of the city of Tskhinvali and other districts. At the mpoment the initiative group is collecting signatures in the population to hold referendum. Two issues will be put up for the referendum:

1. To declare Russian and Ossetians languages official languages on the territory of the Tskhinvali region;

2. To introduce changes into the constitution of the so-called South Ossetia according to which "president of South Ossetia" will be elected for the third term.

Collection of signatures in the population is being carried out through threats and compelling. Public workers are threatened with dismissal from work. The election committee will decide a date for the referendum. The only thing left is to wait for the Moscow decision. But we cannot rule out also that following the principle of accustomed evil it will again prefer experienced and well-versed in their dark matters Kokoity. Time will tell.