Alan Eduardovich Gagloev ( os, Гаглойты Эдуарды фырт Алан, Gaglojty Edwardy fyrt Alan; russian: Алан Эдуардович Гаглоев; born 6 February 1981), also transliterated as Gagloyev, is a South Ossetian politician and former intelligence officer, who is the current

president of South Ossetia The president of the Republic of South Ossetia ( os, Хуссар Ирыстоны президент, russian: Президент Южной Осетии) is the ''de facto'' head of state of the partially recognized Republic of South Ossetia ...

since 2022. He is also the current chairman of the

Nykhaz Nykhaz ( os, Ныхас, Nykhas, lit=Meeting, Speech) is a political party in South Ossetia founded in 2013 by supporters of Independent president Leonid Tibilov. History The party was founded by Alan Alborov, former mayor of Tskhinvali. By t ...

party since 2020.

Early life

Alan Gagloev was born on 6 February 1981, in Tskhinvali. He graduated from the

South Ossetian State University The South Ossetian State University, also known as Alexander Tibilov State University (in Ossetian: Хуссар Ирыстоны паддзахадон университет, in Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთის პედა� ...

in 2002 and was hired by the Ministry of Economic Development of South Ossetia as the chief specialist of the department for supporting small and medium-sized businesses. He fought in the

Russo-Georgian War The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...

in 2008. During the war, Gagloev's family "suffered heavy losses".

2017 presidential campaign and joining Nykhaz

He ran unsuccessfully for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, losing to

Anatoly Bibilov Anatoly Ilyich Bibilov ( os, Бибылты Ильяйы фырт Анатолий, Bibylty Iljajy fyrt Anatolij; , russian: Анато́лий Ильи́ч Биби́лов; born 6 February 1970) is a Russian and South Ossetian military offic ...

. After his loss, he announced the creation of his own political party, the

Alan Union Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * A ...

in September 2017. However, in May 2018, the South Ossetian Ministry of Justice refused to register the party. In January 2019, the Alan Union and the other party "

New Ossetia New Ossetia was a minor political party that existed in the partially recognized Caucasian republic of South Ossetia following the 2012 South Ossetian presidential election to its merger into Nykhaz for the 2019 South Ossetian parliamentary electi ...

" merged with the party

. Gagloev went on to be elected chairman of Nykhaz in February 2020.

2022 presidential campaign

Gagloev ran for president a second time in the 2022 election. On 10 April 2022, he won the first round with 36.9% of the vote, passing incumbent president

. Prior to the run-off, Gagloev received endorsements from the three candidates eliminated in the first round, Alexandr Pliyev, Garri Muldarov, and Dmitry Tasoyev, heading into the runoff against Bibilov. Bibilov had been endorsed by

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...

, the ruling party of Russia. Gagloev defeated Bibilov in the run-off with 56.08% of the vote on 8 May 2022. Bibilov admitted defeat in the elections, congratulated Gagloev and wished him "successful work for the good of the people".

Presidency

Following his election, he was sworn in as the new president on 24 May 2022. Domestically, Gagloev said the main issue of his presidency would be taking steps to improve the economy.

Relations with Russia

Gagloev was seen by observers as being less supportive of holding a referendum to join Russia, saying that Russia was "still busy with other issues," in reference to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin Press Secretary

Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov ( rus, Дмитрий Сергеевич Песков, p=pʲɪˈskof; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat and the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin. On 30 May 2022, he suspended the referendum called by his predecessor Bibilov until consultations with Russia are complete. On 12 August 2022, Gagloev dismissed defense minister Vladimir Pukhaev due to an incident on 23 July 2022, which involved masked servicemen of the defense minister assaulting civilians in various locations throughout the region. Gagloev would assert his "supreme authority" over the armed forces after these events. This is after his predecessor had allowed parts of the South Ossetian military to be under the authority of the Russian army, as well as a large desertion by South Ossetians in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Relations with Georgia

While still campaigning, Gagloev visited the

Akhalgori Municipality Akhalgori Municipality or Leningor District ( ka, ახალგორის მუნიციპალიტეტი, os, Ленингоры район, russian: Ахалгорский муниципалитет) is a Municipality in Georgia o ...

, which has a substantial Georgian population, and urged support for allowing residents to travel to Georgia more freely. This had previously not been possible without medical documentation, and was further complicated by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. After assuming office, Gagloev received criticism from Russian news anchor Sergey Karnaukhov for dismissing the referendum to join Russia as well as supporting easier travel to Georgia, accusing him of being an American and Georgian asset. The governments of both Georgia and South Ossetia denied these claims. Beginning in August 2022, South Ossetia announced it would open checkpoints with Georgia from the 20th to the 30th of each month.

Personal life

Gagloev is married and has two children.

Notes

References

{{Heads of state of republics 1981 births Living people Ossetian politicians People from Tskhinvali Presidents of South Ossetia