Eduard Kokoity, President of the Republic of South Ossetia
Eduard Kokoity is the second President of the Republic of South Ossetia. He was born on October 1964 in Tskhinval. In 1987, he graduated from the South Ossetian Teachers Training Institute, where he organized "Narty," a youth group dedicated to cultural promotion. He then served a two-year tour of duty in the Army of the Soviet Union.
In the mid-90s, Mr. Kokoity was the head of the Komsomol in Tskhinval, where he became a youth movement reformer. In November 1989, he joined 19 other South Ossetians, forming a human chain that stopped thousands of Georgian protesters from entering Tskhinval during an illegal march from Tbilisi and Gori.
In 1990, Mr. Kokoity was elected a deputy to the first session of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of South Ossetia. In 1997, Ludvig Chibirov, the first president of RSO appointed Mr. Kokoity as a Trade Representative-Minister of the Republic of South Ossetia to the Russian Federation.
In 2001, he was elected President of the Republic of South Ossetia and re-elected in 2006.
Since the Russian Federation and Nicaragua recognized the Republic of South Ossetia in August of 2008, President Kokoity has worked to bolster his country's image by broadening relations with Russia and other countries.
