South Ossetia South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. In the wake of the 2008 war, Georgia and a significant part of the international community consider South Ossetia to be occupied by the Russian military. South Ossetia relies heavily on military, political and financial aid from Russia. Russia does not allow the European Union Monitoring Mission to enter South Ossetia. South Ossetia, Transnistria, Artsakh, and Abkhazia are sometimes referred to as post-Soviet "frozen conflict" zones. The territory of contemporary South Ossetia was part of the kingdom of Iberia, the latter was unified under the single Georgian monarchy in 11th-century, extending its possessions up to Dvaleti.
1991–1992 South Ossetia War fought in the war was formed in January 1991, just before the fighting started. It was supposed to be a 12,000 strong force raised by conscription, but because of financial difficulties it had to be formed from volunteers instead. Several informal Georgian militias also participated in the conflict, including White Eagles (splinter group of the National Guard), White George (rumored to be common criminals who were granted amnesty in order to fight in South Ossetia), Black Panthers, Kutaisi National Guard and Merab Kostava Society. On the night of 5 to 6 January 1991, the Georgian police force entered Tskhinvali to