A pro-Russian former KGB officer won the presidency in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, where Moscow is trying to re-assert control, election officials said on Monday.
Leonid Tibilov, 60, received about 54 percent of the votes in a runoff on Sunday against regional human rights ombudsman David Sanakoyev, election commission chief Bella Pliyeva said.
Moscow recognised the tiny region of about 30,000 people as an independent nation after a 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, but it remains heavily dependent on Moscow’s financial help and military protection amid growing dissatisfaction over how funds are spent.