Alexander Totoonov: The people of South Ossetia will always be grateful to Russia for salvation
Member of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs – co-chair of the Commission on cooperation between the Federation Council and the Parliament of the Republic of South Ossetia Alexander Totoonov took part in commemorative events dedicated to the 8th anniversary of the beginning of armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia.
As reported to IA "RES" the Aide to Senator Katherine Tolasova, every year on August 8 at the Embassy of South Ossetia in the Russian Federation, as in all parts of the Republic of South Ossetia, the national flag is at half-mast.
Members of the Moscow Ossetian community, the participants of the peacekeeping battalion, who had repelled the first treacherous attack of aggressors in 2008, the embassy staff and permanent representation of North Ossetia-Alania, as well as the residents of the capital laid flowers and lit candles in memory of the victims. On the same day, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was held a prayer service for the victims in 2008, civilians of South Ossetia, the defenders of Tskhinval, South Ossetian and Russian peacekeepers, soldiers and officers of the Russian army, who at the cost of their lives saved the people of South Ossetia from physical destruction.
"War is a tragedy of the people involved in it. Those who unleash war, forever become responsible for innocent victims, as well as live forever in the memory those who defended the independence and freedom of their land. Today, lighting candles of memory, we reaffirm that a grateful memory will always keep the names and deeds of all those who were bringing closer the desired day of the declaration of independence of long-suffering South Ossetia. Our memory will keep long years of struggle and hardships, thousands of lives being lost during this time.
We will always remember crippled lives, tens of thousands forced to leave their homes and being left without shelter and livelihood. But, most importantly, the people of South Ossetia will always remember and appreciate the assistance of the brotherly Russian people.
Russia, confirming the status of a great power, the guarantor of the state and the peacemaker, protected not only its citizens, but saved from complete destruction South Ossetia and its people from genocide ", - said Alexander Totoonov.
The senator has noted that this day filled with mourning and sadness, is also reminiscent of other feelings that Ossetians experienced on August 26 when recognizing the independence of South Ossetia: "This is a milestone, a major event not only for South Ossetia, but also for the entire Ossetian nation."