One of the central streets in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region has been named after Russian President Vladimir Putin on his 67th birthday yesterday to show “the respect and gratitude of the people of South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) to him,” Ekho Kavkaza reports.
Local de facto authorities say that the street “is the largest and the most beautiful” in Tskhinvali which will soon house a new university and a stadium.
Previously it was named Moscow Street.
Russia recognised the two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states after the war with Georgia back in 2008.
Only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have done the same so far.
The rest of the international community says that the regions are occupied by Russia and urge the country to withdraw its forces from historic Georgian lands.