The Salvation Union of South Ossetia was founded in October 2006 by the ethnic Ossetians who were outspoken critics and presented a serious opposition to secessionist authorities of Eduard Kokoity[citation needed].

However the Salvation Union of South Ossetia turned down a request from a Georgian NGO, “Multinational Georgia”, to monitor it and the released results were very likely to be inflated.

I will take care of the security, well-being and revival of South Ossetia and its people,” Dimitri Sanakoev said in his presidential oath, which he gave in the Ossetian and Georgian languages during the inauguration ceremony held on December 1, 2006.

On the other hand, the Tskhinvali leadership and a majority of South Ossetians in the areas it controls dismiss Sanakoev as a "traitor" and perceive that Georgia wants to force a settlement on its own terms having "little respect for their aspirations and fears".

But we all have understood that armed confrontation brought nothing but misfortune… It became clear for us that we were in impasse.”He also mentioned that: “vicious Soviet legacy, grave mistakes committed by the both sides and the imperialistic policy of divide and rule exerted by the external forces.” [9]Sanakoev also mentioned that despite his high-level position in the South Ossetian secessionist authorities as Prime Minister he failed to build confidence between the two sides and make a breakthrough in the conflict resolution process “because it was beyond my powers.” “There is only one solution – direct dialogue between the Georgian and Ossetian people, neutralizing external and internal destructive forces and their replacement with effective and healthy support of the international democratic community.

We should counter-balance antidemocratic propaganda by our movement’s brave peaceful initiatives and economic development projects.”As for current situation, Sanakoev mentioned that Tskhinvali secessionist authorities take instruction from “foreign supervisors” who try to thwart confidence-building and provoke hostilities between the two people.

In the next few days, Russian troops pushed back the Georgian army out of South Ossetia and moved farther, occupying Gori in Georgia proper.

Following the end of hostilities, the Federation Council of Russia called an extraordinary session for August 25, 2008 to discuss recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.