Spy scandal in South Ossetia: Why was there no public reaction?
Spy network in South Ossetia
The security services of South Ossetia claim to have uncovered a spy network that was collecting classified information and passing it to Georgia.
But the news was met with indifference by local residents.
People are far more concerned with everyday hardships and rising crime than with alleged Georgian spies.
Equation with six unknowns
At the end of April, South Ossetia’s KGB issued a statement saying that, “in cooperation with Russia’s Federal Security Service, the activities of a South Ossetian citizen, born in 1974, suspected of passing classified information to Georgian intelligence services, have been thwarted.”
“Operational and investigative measures revealed that a resident of the Dzau district, employed at a state enterprise, maintained stable contacts with representatives of Georgia’s State Security Service. He allegedly passed on information about the deployment of Russian military units stationed in South Ossetia, their dispatch to the zone of the special military operation, as well as details on the internal political situation in South Ossetia,” the statement read.
The suspect — whose name has not been disclosed — was arrested and charged with treason. According to the KGB, he has confessed and is “actively cooperating with the investigation.”
In addition, South Ossetian security services claim to have identified five more citizens who shared “non-classified information about the socio-political situation” with the Georgian side. They were issued “official warnings.”
Meanwhile, in Tskhinval — a town where everyone knows each other and the surrounding residents — no one seems to have any idea who these alleged spies are. And that in itself is striking.
“Absolutely nothing is known. Not even the suspect’s initials,” locals told us with a shrug.
In truth, few people seem to care.
It used to be louder
Just a few years ago, similar arrests sparked major public interest and were widely discussed. This was the case in 2019, for example, when the South Ossetian KGB arrested prominent official Sergey Lipin and his wife Nanuli Chukhuladze, who allegedly “confessed to passing military, political, and economic information to Georgian intelligence services, to the detriment of the republic’s security.”
As part of the same criminal case, two more individuals were detained — the brothers Khristofor and Georgiy Tedeev, owners of a computer service centre. According to investigators, they maintained and repaired official computers for many government bodies and “had access to state secrets.”
That case likely stirred public reaction because Lipin had held senior positions for many years, and almost everyone in Tskhinval had used the Tedeev brothers’ services. Many residents personally knew those arrested, and the news came as a shock. Incidentally, the Tedeevs denied all charges, refused to cooperate with investigators, and were eventually released.
Fatigue and distrust
The current “spy scandal” has largely been met with indifference.
Some of the Tskhinval residents we spoke to explained this by saying that people are simply worn out — by lawlessness, a surge in crime, and disappointment with those in power. They no longer have the energy to get outraged over the schemes of unknown spies.
One respondent even suggested the whole thing was fabricated by the authorities:
I think this spy story is just a distraction from real problems. That’s why they invent agents.
A former law enforcement officer also expressed scepticism. In his view, it’s hard to believe such a case in today’s world: Georgian or any other intelligence services no longer need spies to locate troop positions — satellite technology does the job just fine.
Toponyms, terminology, views and opinions expressed by the author are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of JAMnews or any employees thereof. JAMnews reserves the right to delete comments it considers to be offensive, inflammatory, threatening or otherwise unacceptable.
