South Ossetia's ex-president with controversial past takes helm of culture council
Tibilov leads Ossetian council
Leonid Tibilov, former president of South Ossetia and uncle of the current president, Alan Gagloev, has become the new head of the South Ossetian branch of the international public movement Supreme Council of Ossetians (Styr Nykhas). However, many Tskhinval residents believe that Tibilov, with his “dark past,” has no place at the head of such an organization.
The Supreme Council of Ossetians was established in the early 1990s to educate youth, preserve and develop the Ossetian language and literature, and uphold the national traditions and culture of the Ossetian people.
President Alan Gagloev personally lobbied for Tibilov’s candidacy. Rumor has it in Tskhinval that he did so not only out of familial loyalty but also in gratitude, as Tibilov is said to have helped him build his political career.
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Following his defeat in the 2017 presidential election, where Tibilov failed to win a second term, he largely disappeared from public life.
His attempt to run for parliament in 2019 was also unsuccessful—Tibilov couldn’t even win in his own district as a single-member candidate. His low popularity stemmed from his unsuccessful presidential term.
Ultimately, abandoning his own ambitions, Leonid Tibilov invested in his nephew, Alan Gagloev.
Tibilov and Gagloev are connected not only by family ties but also by shared political and financial interests. Back in 2017, when Tibilov ran for a second term, Alan Gagloev—a previously unknown former KGB officer of South Ossetia—was a technical candidate.
After Tibilov’s defeat in the 2017 presidential election, the party he founded, Nykhas, came under Gagloev’s control. Financial and administrative resources were invested in promoting Alan Gagloev, and five years later, in 2022, this paid off—he became the president of South Ossetia.
Tibilov’s election as head of the South Ossetian branch of the Supreme Council of Ossetians has revived old scandals in Tskhinval.
According to eyewitness accounts, during the peak of the August 2008 war, Tibilov, then a banker, refused to allow women and children fleeing the shelling into a city bomb shelter. It has been said that he personally shut the doors in their faces, stating that the shelter was supposedly full.
Additionally, rumors suggest he urged local militias to lay down their arms and surrender to Georgian forces entering Tskhinval.
These incidents were recalled by Tskhinval residents in 2012 during Tibilov’s election campaign, although he denied everything and was elected president. Now, this episode has resurfaced again.
Alan Gagloev is known to have several “problematic relatives,” chief among them his brother Alik, whose past actions have resurfaced following Tibilov’s appointment. Specifically, Alik Gagloev was detained in 2007 as a potential perpetrator of a sabotage attack against participants of the Ossetian People’s Congress, an event organized by the Supreme Council of Ossetians. However, the case never went to court.
In general, South Ossetians have received the recent changes in Styr Nykhas with skepticism, with many viewing them as a blow to the reputation of an organization that was once highly respected.
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Tibilov leads Ossetian council
