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One of Russia's smallest regions, mountainous North Ossetia has fallen prey to the spillover from the violent unrest that plagues its neighbours in the volatile North Caucasus. This was starkly illustrated in September 2004, when armed attackers stormed a school in the town of Beslan. In the violent end to the siege 330 people were killed; more than half of them were children.
Overview
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attackers were international terrorists with links to Chechen separatists and funding from al-Qaeda. He accused them of seeking to unleash violence across the North Caucasus in order to strike at Russia's south. Ousted Chechen separatist president Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed just six months later, condemned the seizure of the school but blamed Russian policy in Chechnya, describing the attackers as "madmen" seeking to avenge the Chechen people for atrocities carried out by Russians.
Remembering the victims: The Beslan siege ended in a bloodbath
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The only attacker thought to have survived was later sentenced to life imprisonment. Campaigners continue to accuse the Russian authorities of a cover-up and want further investigation into events leading up to and during the siege. History Ethnic Ossetians and Russians make up most of the population of North Ossetia. Russian influence in the area increased in the 18th century with the founding of a military outpost at Vladikavkaz. In the early 1920s the territory was part of the short-lived Soviet Mountain Republic - made up of six districts including Chechnya and Ingushetia. Autonomous status was given to the districts in 1924; in 1936 North Ossetia became an autonomous Soviet republic. North Ossetia has a history of loyalty to Moscow but this has not exempted it from internal conflict and violence in recent years. A nail bomb attack on the central market in the capital Vladikavkaz in 1999, which killed 60 people, was blamed on Muslim extremists. Russian military targets in North Ossetia have been attacked on several occasions in recent years with scores of personnel killed. North Ossetia fought a bloody conflict with its eastern neighbour, the Russian republic of Ingushetia, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
North Ossetia has some of the Caucasus's highest peaks
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Ingush forces, in pursuit of a historical claim to Prigorodny district on the right bank of the Terek river, were repelled in 1992 with the support of Moscow. Hundreds died in the fighting, and many ethnic Ingush civilians fled North Ossetia for Ingushetia. A peace agreement has yet to be reached. The North Ossetian and Ingush sides have made conflicting claims about the extent of the return of Ingush refugees to North Ossetia. Ossetians divided War broke out in the South Ossetia region of Georgia, just over the border from North Ossetia, in August 2008. Russian forces drove Georgian troops out of the region, which declared independence from Georgia in 1991 and has been run by a secessionist government ever since. Thousands of South Ossetians fled to the North in the 1990s amid the violence that followed the declaration of independence. North Ossetia maintains strong ethnic links with the territory. Rich in resources - including unexploited oil and gas reserves - North Ossetia is the most industrialised and urbanised republic in the North Caucasus. It also has tourism potential; plans for a ski resort were announced in 2003.
Facts
Territory: North Ossetia Status: Semi-autonomous region of Russia - Population: 700,000
- Capital: Vladikavkaz
- Area: 8,000 sq km (3,000 sq miles)
- Main religion: Christianity
- Languages: Ossetian, Russian
- Currency: Rouble
Leaders
President: Taymuraz Mamsurov Taymuraz Mamsurov was put forward for the leadership by Russian President Vladimir Putin and approved by the republic's parliament after the resignation of Aleksandr Dzasokhov in June 2005.
Taymuraz Mamsurov, regarded as a Kremlin loyalist
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He is a leading member of the North Ossetian branch of United Russia and is regarded as a staunch Kremlin loyalist. He had been chairman of the republic's parliament since 2000 and was chairman of its government for two years before that. Mr Dzasokhov, president since 1998, was heavily criticised in the republic over the North Ossetian authorities' failure to prevent bloodshed in the September 2004 Beslan school siege. As a senior official at the time of the siege, in which his son and daughter were amongst the hostages, Mr Mamsurov has also faced criticism in its aftermath. He has spoken of the people of North and South Ossetia as an "integral whole" and issued a joint statement with his South Ossetian counterpart on boosting links. Mr Mamsurov was born in Beslan and was 50 when he became leader. He trained as a civil engineer.
Media
Most media outlets are owned by, or under the influence of, the republic's government. Observers say TV, radio and press news content is dominated by official information. The press Television/radio - GTRK Alania - state-run
- Alania Radio - entertainment-based
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Images of Beslan
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