Thirty years after Soviet collapse, Russia maintains grip on breakaway Georgian province

Thirteen years after the war, more than 25,000 civilians still live in refugee camps along Georgia's new border with South Ossetia. © FRANCE 24 screengrab

Since Russia's brief war with Georgia in 2008, pro-Russian separatists in the disputed territory of South Ossetia have laid kilometres of barbed wire and fencing, turning what was once an administrative line into a de facto hard border – sometimes dividing both families and property. FRANCE 24's James André, Sylvain Rousseau and Achraf Abid sent this report.

In the summer of 2008, Russia and Georgia fought a brief but bloody war over the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in which more than 1,000 were killed. The conflict cemented Russia’s influence in the region and sent a powerful message to all former Soviet states.

Thirteen years on, FRANCE 24’s reporters returned to Georgia's disputed border with South Ossetia, where families are still uprooted by a frozen war.

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