Russia and South Ossetia sign a treaty of deepened integration

Vladimir Putin and the South Ossetian de facto president Alan Gagloev sign a Treaty on Deepening Allied Interaction in the Kremlin on 9 May 2026; the Russian State Duma ratifies it days later. Reported provisions include coordinated foreign, defence and security policy, a single economic space, harmonised economic legislation, mutual property rights, staged integration of energy, transport and telecommunications, and the removal of citizenship restrictions on holding state and municipal office — under which Russian citizens may serve in the entity's administration. Gagloev describes the treaty as a step toward the reunification of the Ossetian people and a legal mechanism for possible future accession to the Russian Federation. On 16 June a Russian citizen, Marat Kambolov, becomes de facto prime minister, and on 23 June Gagloev resigns to take a post in the Russian presidential administration, leaving Kambolov acting president. Georgia's foreign minister calls the treaty a step toward annexation of Georgian territory; France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom state jointly that it has no validity under international law.