Armed Forces of South Ossetia volunteers in the war amounted to 150 dead. According to the 2012 statement by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Russia had been training the South Ossetian militias as part of the Russian General Staff's 2006–2007 plan to rebuff Georgia in case of war. In March 2015, members of the Parliament of South Ossetia put forward a proposal to dissolve South Ossetia's military and fold it into the Russian Armed Forces, but the proposal was ultimately rejected by Leonid Tibilov and Defense Minister Ibragim Gassayev. The South Ossetian units were to be incorporated into the Russian military but remain separate
Russia–South Ossetia relations recognition was condemned by the European Union, United States, NATO, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, amongst others, with some calling for Russia to rescind its recognition. Many high level Russian politicians including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov, Chairman of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin and Permanent Representative of Russia to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, rejected the criticism, and have stated that Russian recognition of South Ossetia is irreversible. In an interview to Vesti in August