Occupied Tskhinvali appoints Russian military officer as “Defense Minister”

Alan Gagloev, the so-called “president” of Georgia's Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, has appointed Russian military officer Yuri Yarovitsky as the “defense minister” and Inal Sabanov as his first deputy. Sabanov had previously been serving as acting head of the de facto ministry.

Yarovitsky was born on May 27, 1965, in Tashkent and graduated from the Tashkent Higher Military Command School in 1987. Throughout his career in the Russian army, he has held numerous senior positions, including chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Western Military District’s 1st Tank Army (2014-2016) and commander of the Baltic Fleet’s 11th Army Corps (2016-2020). In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded him the Order of St. George IV class for his service in Syria, and in 2019, he was promoted to lieutenant general. Since August 2020, he has served as a senior military advisor in Nicaragua.

Gagloyev also dismissed the first deputy “defense minister” of the occupied region, Major General Alexander Mikhailov. Colonel Vadim Tabuev was appointed as “deputy defense minister” for logistics, and Colonel Akhsar Gioev was named as “deputy minister” for personnel affairs.

Earlier this year, in April, Gagloev dismissed the previous de facto “defense minister,” Marat Pavlov, who had formerly headed the international cooperation department of Russia’s Ministry of Defense. Unofficial reports suggest Pavlov’s dismissal was linked to cigarette smuggling.