On 18 August 2008, it was announced that Morozov and his government had been dismissed by South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity.
Kokoity said he thought the government was not handling the emergency aid from Russia, which was arriving after the 2008 South Ossetia war, good enough.
[citation needed] According to accounts of several South Ossetian military and political leaders, Morozov fled Tskhinvali at onset of Georgian attack.
Anatoly Bibilov, then deputy commander of North Ossetian peacekeeping battalion, claimed that already at 5 am of 8 August 2008 (6 hours after the bombardment of Tskhinvali had started), Morozov was in Vladikavkaz.
[3] Boris Chochiev, then Deputy Prime Minister of South Ossetia, has also claimed that when he connected with Morozov on the phone on 8 August and asked to help organize evacuation of women and children, Morozov was in Vladikavkaz and effectively declined any responsibility, exclaiming "F## you and your children!