The Georgian authorities are trying to establish a “puppet government” in South Ossetia to confront the current leadership of the breakaway region, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity told Interfax news agency on October 25.

These remarks by Kokoity follow the decision of newly-created organization Salvation Union of Ossetians, which is believed to be backed by officials in Tbilisi, to hold an alternative independence referendum and presidential polls in the breakaway region in parallel to those being held on November 12 by the secessionist authorities.

“The Georgian authorities have launched repressions against Ossetians in order to force them to create a pro-Georgian puppet government. It is planned that ex-Prime Minister of South Ossetia Dimitri Sanakoev will be nominated as a so-called candidate for the position of South Ossetian President,” Kokoity said.

Meanwhile, the South Ossetian Central Election Commission (CEC) said on October 25 that only those residents who hold South Ossetian citizenship will be able to cast ballots during the November 12 presidential elections and independence referendum.

“We called on the residents of Georgian villages to receive South Ossetian citizenship... Unfortunately, we received no response,” the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee quoted Chairperson of the South Ossetian CEC Bella Plieva as saying.