Involvement of de facto South Ossetia in the Russia-Ukraine war, which was an attempt to strengthen its importance in the international position, resulted in humanitarian and human losses.

According to the April data, de facto South Ossetia is participating in the Russia-Ukraine war with a fairly large number of human resources. This is due, on the one hand, to the propaganda of the so-called Russia’s greatness, and, on the other hand, to difficult socio-economic conditions. Against the background of a shortage of jobs in the region, in exchange for going to war, part of the population agrees to volunteer for the salary stipulated by the contract. According to official data, which do not represent an accurate figure for human losses, since February 2022, the de facto republic of South Ossetia has had at least 27 deaths and 15 missing persons.

Last month, at a meeting of the joint commission of the council of the Russian Federation and the parliament of South Ossetia, the issue of volunteers missing in the so-called “special military operation” zone was discussed. The meeting discussed the procedural problems associated with financial support for families and legal procedures for recognizing individuals as missing in combat activities.

At the meeting, the vice speaker of the de facto parliament, Teimuraz Tadtaev, emphasized the difficult financial situation of the families of missing volunteers, including several minors, due to the failure to fulfill contractual obligations towards volunteers and the non-payment of contractual remuneration for more than a year. In addition, Tadtaev also noted the difficulties in the procedure for recognizing persons missing for more than six months as “absent” by the court, especially considering that volunteers were hired instead of mobilization, which gave rise to different legal and financial obligations. A missing person does not have an official legal status, which prevents relatives from receiving financial assistance or managing their property, while a person declared “absent” by a court decision acquires the official legal status of a missing person, which allows family members to receive financial assistance due to the loss of the breadwinner. A representative of the Russian Federation council, in order to give a specific answer, requested lists of missing persons, which created a kind of illusion of interest in the issue by the Russian side.

The de facto government's attempt to address the problems of the region's population in a specific format is an attempt to justify South Ossetia's involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war and strengthen its positioning in the context of integration with the Russian Federation system. This approach has a particularly acute humanitarian impact on the socio-politically vulnerable region.