Dmitry Sanakoyev

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Dmitry Sanakoyev
Defense Minister of South Ossetia
In office
2000 – 2000
Primer Minister of South Ossetia
In office
2001 – 2003
Head of the Provisional Administrative Entity of South Ossetia.
In office
May 04, 2007 – incumbent
Born January 31, 1969 (1969-01-31) (age 39)
Tskhinvali, Georgia
Political party The Salvation Union of South Ossetia
Residence Kurta

Dmitry Sanakoyev (born 1969) is a South Ossetian politician, former official in the secessionist government and currently Head of the Provisional Administration of South Ossetia, a provisional entity established in 2007 in the Georgian-controlled territories of this separatist region.

Sanakoyev was born in Java, Georgian SSR's South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. He graduated from the South Ossetian Pedagogical State Institute in 1993, and served as a Soviet army officer in Lithuania from 1987 to 1989. In the 1991-1992 war between the Georgian forces and secessionist militias he fought on the Ossetian side and in 1993-1996 worked in the South Ossetian de facto defence ministry. In 1996 he was appointed defence minister and in 1998 also vice prime minister. In July 2001 he became prime minister of South Ossetia, serving until December 2001, when Eduard Kokoity replaced Lyudvig Chibirov as South Ossetia’s leader.

During the South Ossetian presidential elections, 2006, on November 13, in a so-called "alternative" poll organized by The Salvation Union of South Ossetia in Georgian- and Ossetian villages not controlled by the separatists, Sanakoyev was declared the president-elect, with more than 80 percent of the vote. His campaign posters were prominently posted on walls outside polling stations in Georgian-controlled villages, benefited from extensive media coverage in the Georgian press. His election manifesto envisaged the restoration of the region's status as a republic within Georgia and a program of measures to spur economic growth.

At his November 13 press conference, Kokoity termed Sanakoyev and Karkusov, head of the alternative election commission and a former advisor to Kokoity, "traitors to their homeland and traitors to the South Ossetian people." The South Ossetian media launched a campaign to discredit and compromise Sanakoyev, accusing him of corruption, duplicity, and collaborating with Georgian intelligence. In December 2006, Sanakoyev formed his government, choosing not to include the post of defense minister.[1]

On May 10, 2007, Dmitry Sanakoyev was appointed by the President of Georgia the Head of South Ossetian Provisional Administrative Entity. Next day, Sanakoyev addressed the Parliament of Georgia in Ossetic, outlining his vision of the conflict resolution plan (full text).[2] The move earned appraisal from the United States State Department, but alarmed the de facto authorities in Tskhinvali which ordered to block the traffic to the ethnic Georgian villages and threatened to oust Sanakoyev’s government by force, but surprisingly received Russia’s disapproval.[3]

On June 26, 2007, Sanakoyev delivered a speech, in his native Ossetian, at the EU-Georgian Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in Brussels, his first appeal to the international community. He emphasized that "a direct dialogue between the Georgian and Ossetian peoples and demilitarization of the region are of crucial importance… European-type of autonomy, like Alto Adige/Südtirol, can serve as a model… in unified Georgia…. where liberal democracy is being built".[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dmitry Sanakoev Formed Alternative Government Of South Ossetia - The Georgian Times, November 12, 2006.
  2. ^ Head of S.Ossetia Administration Addresses Georgian Parliament. Civil Georgia. May 11, 2007. Retrieved on May 12, 2007.
  3. ^ Eduard Kokoity Makes Siege Mistake. Kommersant. Retrieved on May 12, 2007.
  4. ^ Tbilisi’s S.Ossetia Diplomatic Offensive Gains Momentum, Civil Georgia. June 26, 2007. Retrieved on June 26, 2007.