Word: russia
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...Tskhinvali, South Ossetia's largest town and self-styled capital. Kokoity's government received 10 billion rubles - $324 million at the current exchange rate - from Moscow to reverse the damage wrought by the five-day war. But residents have seen little evidence of any such spending. (See pictures of Russia's war with Georgia...
...present South Ossetia is only recognized by Russia and Nicaragua; the rest of the world still views it as part of Georgia. In a concrete reminder of its Western aspirations, Georgia has been hosting month-long NATO military exercises, which including drills in riot control and neutralizing suicide bombers. Moscow roundly condemned the exercises, which President Dmitry Medvedev described as an "act of overt provocation." (See pictures of Russia celebrating Victory...
...Unlike Georgia's other separatist region, Abkhazia, which has a port and a coast attractive for tourists, South Ossetia has scant economic activity, making it largely dependent on Russia. Kokoity has frequently expressed hopes that South Ossetia would join North Ossetia, across the border in Russia proper, to recreate Alania - the land South Ossetians see as their ancestral homeland. But Russia, mindful of international disapproval for changing borders by force, has announced no plans to absorb the region into the Russian Federation...
...Before the August war, many South Ossetians made ends meet by trading food with neighboring Georgia, but the economy survived largely due to Russia's assistance and the illegal trade of arms, drugs and counterfeit money. That trade has fallen off since the tension on Georgia's border with South Ossetia and now unemployment is soaring under the separatist region's red, white and yellow flag. Kokoity's extra-parliamentary opposition, such as Vyacheslav Gobozov of the Fatherland Party, accuses him of theft and corruption...
...relatives have had to spend their own funds to fix their homes. Many other locals spent the winter in roofless apartments, or even camped in their courtyards. "The region has always been an economic black hole," said Malashenko. "Its future has nothing to do with Kokoity, but with Russia and its relationship with the other Caucasian territories." (Read: "Russia and Ukraine Battle Over Their Shared History...