The recently created organization Salvation Union of Ossetians, which is believed to enjoy unofficial backing by Tbilisi, on November 2 warned  of anticipated provocations by the secessionist authorities of South Ossetia on the eve of independence referendum and presidential polls.

“Provocations through terrorist acts on some of the polling stations are planned by the authorities in Tskhinvali in order to then point fingers at the Georgian authorities and to discredit the authorities in Tbilisi. I have this information from sources in Tskhinvali,” Vladimir Sanakoev, one of the founders of the organization, said on November 2.

He said that secessionist-orchestrated provocations will also serve to add weight to their earlier allegations that the Georgian authorities are planning to stage provocations in the breakaway region.

Officials in Tskhinvali have accused the Georgian side of plotting provocations in order to thwart presidential elections and independence referendum scheduled for November 12 in the breakaway region.

The South Ossetian side said that four Chechen militants who were killed by South Ossetian militiamen in the Java district on October 31 were recruited by the Georgian authorities to carry out sabotage in the unrecognized republic.