Eduard Kokoyty, President of South Ossetia

(Кокойты Эдуард Джабеевич) born on October 31, 1964 in Tskhinvali.

Professional career started as an electrical engineer. Graduated South Ossetian Pedagogical Institute in 1987. While he was a student, he was elected as the secretary of the committee of communists at the university.

From 1988-1989 was a secretary and then from 1989-1991 he was the first secretary of the city of Tskhinvali communist party.

During Georgia-Ossetia conflict, he created and headed the fighting division of the "defenders of Ossetia."

From 1990-1993 he was a deputy of the Parliament of South Ossetia.

In 1993 he created a sports charity fund "Youth."

In 1997 he was appointed as the Trade Representative-Minister of South Ossetia to Russia.

Then, he was an advisor to the deputy of Russian Parliament, A. Chekhoev.


Married. Has 3 sons.

Dmitry Sanakoev, President of South Ossetia

Dmitry Sanakoev (born in 1969) is a South Ossetian politician. He claims to serve as President of South Ossetia, a secessionist republic officially recognised as being part of Georgia, after winning alternative elections organised by the opposition to the de facto incumbent, Eduard Kokoity. He is recognised neither by the de facto government in Tskhinvali, the entity's capital, or by the international community at large, which does not recognise the existence of a South Ossetian government at all.
Sanakoyev fought on the Ossetian side during the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in the early 1990s. Later, he served as defense minister and then as prime minister for several months in 2001 under Kokoity's predecessor, Lyudvig Chibirov, but left South Ossetia for Moscow after Kokoity came to power.

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.