Translated material
Meduza: personnel changes in South Ossetia may be related to plans to incorporate it into Russia
On June 23, the head of South Ossetia, Alan Gagloev, accepted Vladimir Putin’s offer to take the post of his adviser. According to the provisions of the constitution, the temporary leadership of South Ossetia passes to the chairman of the government of the republic, Marat Kambolov.
From 2014 to 2026, Kambolov held leading positions at the National Research Center (SRC) Kurchatov Institute. On May 27, 2026, he was appointed advisor to Alan Gagloev. Kambolov was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the agreement signed on May 9 in Moscow on deepening allied cooperation between South Ossetia and Russia. On June 16, the Parliament of South Ossetia approved the candidacy of Marat Kambolov for the post of Chairman of the Government of the Republic.
The President of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" is Mikhail Kovalchuk. Brothers Mikhail and Yuri Kovalchuk are part of Vladimir Putin's inner circle and have a great influence on Russian politics.
A source from Meduza, close to the Russian presidential administration, mentioned in 2022 a plan being worked out in the Kremlin for the actual annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Russia or to a union state (Russian Federation and Belarus). In his opinion, such a step could demonstrate to the Russians “territorial successes” after the withdrawal of troops from some Ukrainian regions.
However, this scenario, according to Meduza, was not discussed for long. The obstacle was the difference in the mood of the population: in Ossetia the idea of integration was supported by the majority, while in Abkhazia it caused rejection. As a result, the annexation of Ossetia alone was considered insufficiently significant. An expert familiar with the political situation in South Ossetia described the republic as a “gray zone where money laundering schemes flourish,” which was the reason for its refusal to include it.
“It seems that the ‘mini-USSR’ project is now being discussed again,” a political strategist who participated in the election campaign in Ossetia shared his assumptions in an interview with Meduza.
Earlier, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the signing of the May 9 agreement on deepening allied cooperation between South Ossetia and Russia. Tbilisi called it another illegal step aimed at the actual annexation of the occupied region and a gross violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.
At the same time, the Kremlin does not officially confirm the connection between recent personnel changes in South Ossetia and a possible change in the status of the republic. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, answering a question from journalists about whether it is possible to connect the change in the leadership of South Ossetia with the process of its possible annexation to Russia, said: “No, it’s impossible.”