01 October 2009, 23:00
Residents of South Ossetia complain to Medvedev of slow construction
A group of residents of South Ossetia, victims of the August war of 2008, addressed for help to Russia's top leadership. In their letter, addressed to Dmitri Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, they have accused the leaders of their republic of disrupting the schedule of restoration works.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 30 in Tskhinvali a non-sanctioned protest action took place. Out of 3500 damaged house, the authorities promise to commission only 250 by the coming winter. So far, not a single house was finished in Tskhinvali, except for the cottage settlement "Moskovskiy", built for Moscow's money.
The victims of the last year's August war rallied in central Tskhinvali demanding to restore the ruined houses, but they have practically at once encountered the resistance of power agencies of South Ossetia. President Eduard Kokoity has named it a "prepaid action" and blamed Moscow businessman Albert Dzhussoev of organizing it.
"South Ossetia sees a real moral destruction of the families who left without home and property as a result of the war. For the whole year, the local authorities have done nothing to help them in regaining at least any roof over the head," says a message placed on the website "Iron Times".
"Instead of houses with the area of 125 square meters per family, the project of which had been coordinated from the very beginning, they now offer us to build a house for two families, 80 square meters for each; and the money, allocated by Russia for the houses of the initial project, which was by 45 square meters larger, will just get into pockets of South-Ossetian bosses," residents of South Ossetia write in their letter.