South Ossetia Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russian forces left the buffer areas bordering Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 8 October and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia assumed authority over the buffer areas. Since the war, Georgia has maintained that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Russian-occupied Georgian territories. South Ossetia is in the very heart of the Caucasus at the juncture of Asia and Europe, and it occupies the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and the foothills' part of the Kartalin Valley. South Ossetia is a very mountainous region. The Likhi Range is roughly in
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