Thread by @RooslanTotrov

Alik’s publication () requires a background deep dive. Here is what I have to say about South Ossetian soldiers’ voluntary refusal to partake in the warfare in Ukraine.

1. Many Ossetians seek revenge against Ukraine for its de-facto political and military support of Georgia when the latter conducted genocide and repression of non-Georgian ethnic groups of former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

1.1 What certainly stands out in that regard is the participation of UNA-UNSO in the war against South Ossetia back in 2008.

2. South Ossetia had its own army back in the days but it was demolished by president Bibilov – a loyal puppet to Kremlin’s then eminense grise Vladislav Surkov.

2.1 Mr. Bibilov forced the merger of Ossetian military personnel into Russian army, and oppressed, utilizing Mr. Surkov’s immense influence, all his political rivals who were not in favor of such a decision.

3. South Ossetian soldiers ended up in Ukraine as integral part of the Russian army. Again, this is due to president Bibilov’s decision some time ago.

3.1 The very fact of sending hundreds of Ossetians to Ukraine sparked the flames of discontent in South Ossetia as the country has literally lost most of its soldiers for the time being and become completely vulnerable to Georgia.

4. There was no rapport between Ossetian soldiers and Russian commanders from the get-go, as the former didn’t buy into the latter’s strategy and tactics in the territory they were fighting in.

4.1 Ossetians were expected to carelessly attack well defended Ukrainian positions in the kamikaze style, without any well thought thru strategy. This would have led to immense losses. At some point Ossetian soldiers just ignored orders and started fighting their own way.

5. As the outcome of such a rebellious and independent demeanor, major incident followed: a refusal to supply ammunition and maps to the Ossetian unit.

5.1 This triggered Ossetians to come up with a tense theory: “They want to have as many people from Caucasus slaughtered in this senseless bloodbath as possible”. (Interestingly enough, there is a disproportionate number of casualties from Dagestan and North Ossetia per capita).

6. And then there was the final incident that almost ended at the gunpoint. One of the commanders prohibited Ossetian soldiers to retrieve their dead comrade’s body from the battlefield. This ignited a real unrest.

6.1 Soldiers tried to explain that according to Ossetian tradition the body had to be delivered to the family, but the commander suggested sending in an empty coffin. The response was fierce: we are going to put you in that coffin and ship to Ossetia in case you try to stop us.

7. The commander immediately called in a group of loyal Russian soldiers for his protection. Thus, all the hierarchical ties in the unit were destroyed.

7.1 Ossetian soldiers refused to obey the Russians’ orders and went home immediately. They also issued a warning of shooting anyone who would try to stop them. The group reached South Ossetia in a seamless fashion accompanied by police convoys.