Alan Gagloyev

Alan Eduardovich Gagloyev (; ; born 6 February 1981), also transliterated as Gagloev, is a South Ossetian politician and former intelligence officer, who was the fifth president of South Ossetia since 2022, ending with his resignation on 23 June 2026. He currently works as an Aide to the President of Russia. He also served as chairman of the Nykhaz party from 2020 to 2023.

Early life Alan Gagloev was born on 6 February 1981, in Tskhinvali.

2017 presidential campaign and joining Nykhaz

He ran unsuccessfully for president of South Ossetia in 2017, losing to Anatoly Bibilov. After his loss, he announced the creation of his own political party, the Alanian Union in September 2017. However, in May 2018, the South Ossetian Ministry of Justice refused to register the party. In January 2019, the Alanian Union joined New Ossetia who merged with the party Nykhaz. Gagloev went on to be elected chairman of Nykhaz in February 2020. Prior to the run-off, Gagloev received endorsements from the three candidates eliminated in the first round, Alexandr Pliyev, Garri Muldarov, and Dmitry Tasoyev, heading into the runoff against Bibilov. Bibilov had been endorsed by United Russia, the ruling party of Russia.

Gagloev defeated Bibilov in the run-off with 56.08% of the vote on 8 May 2022.

Presidency Following his election, he was sworn in as the new president on 24 May 2022. Domestically, Gagloev said the main issue of his presidency would be taking steps to improve the economy. Zita Besayeva was elected to replace him as leader of Nykhaz in February 2023.

Relations with Russia

Gagloev was seen by observers as being less supportive of holding a referendum to join Russia, saying that Russia was "still busy with other issues," in reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov further stated on 24 May that in regards to the referendum, "No steps are being taken or planned by the Russian side connected with this."

On 12 August 2022, Gagloev dismissed defense minister Vladimir Pukhaev due to an incident on 23 July 2022, which involved masked servicemen of the defense minister assaulting civilians in various locations throughout the region. Gagloev would assert his "supreme authority" over the armed forces after these events. This is after his predecessor had allowed parts of the South Ossetian military to be under the authority of the Russian army, as well as a large desertion by South Ossetians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the early parts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians fled the country to South Ossetia to avoid being drafted. Gagloev's government cooperated with Russian authorities to create screening centers on the border to make sure the drafted or eligible for the draft don't get into the country. However, the policy was ended in October 2022 after only 120 draft dodgers where caught, of an estimated immigrant population of 78,000.

On March 12, 2023, Gagloev personally awarded Ramzan Kadyrov's daughter Aishat Kadyrova, the South Ossetian Order of Friendship, stating that she had worked tirelessly to improve bilateral relations with Chechnya and South Ossetia.

In October 2023, Gagloev supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it a "Special military operation" and South Ossetia's "joint goal" with Russia. In March 2024, Georgia's Interpress News claimed that in 2023 President Gagloev expressed hope that the "republic" would join Russia soon.

On March 17, 2024, it was announced that several high ranking South Ossetian officials, namely speaker Alan Alborov and President Alan Gagloev, were entering talks with Russian officials for possible annexation into Russia by the end of the year. Vladimir Novikov, a specialist on the Caucasus at the Institute for Countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States stated that “At the present time, the inclusion of South Ossetia within Russia does not correspond to the interests of the Russian Federation since it could lead to the opening of a second front at a time of the special military operation” stating that South Ossetian annexation will only be considered if there was a drastic change in Georgian leadership in a pro-Western direction during the 2024 Georgian parliamentary election.

On May 9, 2026, Gagloev signed the "Treaty on the Deepening of Allied Interaction between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia" with Russian president Vladimir Putin on a state visit to Moscow. The terms of the treaty oversees deeper co-operation between Russia and South Ossetia “to ensure regional peace and stability, and to pursue co-ordinated foreign, defence and security policies” and will take “further steps towards creating a unified economic space, improving living standards, and gradually introducing a common framework for foreign borrowing and foreign investment.” Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili condemned the treaty as "further steps toward the annexation of Georgia’s regions." Article two of the treaty stipulates that any Russian citizen can stand for election in South Ossetia, and vice versa, just days later the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Marat Kambolov, the North Ossetian director of the Kurchatov Institute from 2021 to 2025, was the Kremlin's pick for the next leader of South Ossetia in the 2027 South Ossetian Presidential Election.

On June 23, 2026, Gagloev resigned as the President of South Ossetia to take up a position as an advisor to the Russian Government, particularly on the implementation of the "Treaty on the Deepening of Allied Interaction between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia".

Relations with Georgia While still campaigning, Gagloev visited the Akhalgori Municipality, which has a substantial Georgian population, and urged support for allowing residents to travel to Georgia more freely. This had previously not been possible without medical documentation, and was further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. After assuming office, Gagloev received criticism from Russian news anchor Sergey Karnaukhov for dismissing the referendum to join Russia as well as supporting easier travel to Georgia, accusing him of being an American and Georgian asset. The governments of both Georgia and South Ossetia denied these claims. Beginning in August 2022, South Ossetia announced it would open checkpoints with Georgia from the 20th to the 30th of each month. Gagloev was subject to another scandal when he appointed Anatoly Pliyev as the Secretary of the Security Council when it was revealed that Pliyev had met with Ilia II of Georgia, which had been denounced by prior South Ossetian governments as “the ideologist of Georgian fascism” who “blessed Georgians to kill Ossetians.” However, this also caused tension in Georgia, as Georgian businessman, Gocha Dzasokhashvili, who previously headed the Assembly of the Peoples of Georgia in Russia, brokered the meeting between Pliyev and Ilia.

Domestic policy After spending his entire political career up to his election as an opposition figure against the repressive government of Anatoly Bibilov, who used his office of president to crush political dissident and shut down opposition parties, including Gagloev's own Alanian Union, Gagloev was accused of using his power as president to target Bibilov and his supporters ahead of the 2024 elections. Oleg Gagloev, Alan Gagloev's minister of justice, stated that Bibilov's party, United Ossetia, might be suspended due to failing to properly fill out campaign finance forms at the end of 2022 after multiple warnings. United Ossetia's chairman, and speaker of Parliament Alan Tadtaev, called the threats "stupid" as suspending United Ossetia would cause a governmental collapse as United Ossetia has 14 of the 34 seats in Parliament. Tadtaev would be pressured to resign as speaker shortly after and was replaced by Alan Alborov, a member of Gagloev's Nykhaz.

Corruption allegations emerged almost immediately as Gagloev had promised using South Ossetia's cash reserves to pay transportation and hospital workers bonuses during his campaign. However, once in office, these pay raises never came. The government cited an overall downturn in the South Ossetian economy as it seeks fiscal independence, however, Gagloev's opposition claims that he pocketed the money to use in the 2024 elections as a campaign chest.

Dzhussoev government (2022-2026) Gagloev named Konstantin Dzhussoev, who holds a monopoly on South Ossetia's construction industry, as his Prime Minister who has no experience with either politics or working in government. This has led to concerns about conflicts of interest with government funds for construction. Additionally, Dzhussoev's relationship to Albert Dzhussoev, one of the wealthiest men in the republic, has drawn criticism. Gagloev sought to fix the long-running health crisis when he appointed health minister, Agunda Pliyeva, exasperated by entering a dispute with the hospital staff in Tskhinvali due to low pay and a brain-drain. The second leading issue was the poor state of the economy, which Gagloev appointed finance minister Kazbek Tsarikayev, the former finance minister of North Ossetia, to fix. However, Tsarikaev, due to his old age has been nicknamed "Biden" by locals due to his alleged dementia and due to his abrasive personality he turned most of the finance department against him. Gagloev's head of administration, Alan Dzhioev, implored Gagloev to keep Tsarikayev who went on to go on a state visit to Moscow to try and convince Russian officials that South Ossetia was operating under a surplus. Russia in turn sent auditors to Tskhinvali which found "serious irregularities" in South Ossetia's finances. At the same time there was a pay hold on public workers due to lack of funds. This perceived corruption has led to sporadic protests throughout Gagloev's term. South Ossetia had about 300 million roubles in deficit at the end of 2023. Additionally, Chochiev would strictly enforce preexisting import bans on some commodities, namely juice and soda and other sugary drinks, which led to discontent among the public. Dzambolat Tadtayev was named the Minister of Finance, Sarmat Kotaev was named the Minister of Economic Development, and Alan Margiev was named the new head of Presidential Administration. However, in the build up to the 2024 election the South Ossetian Central Election Commission refused to verify Fatherland's national list, citing a lack of signatures. On June 2, 2025 Gagloev fired Gobozov.

Gagloev again shook up his cabinet on June 2, 2025 besides the aforementioned Gobozov removal, Gagloev named Yuri Yarovitsky his minister of defense with Major General Inal Sabanov as his deputy, who previously held the position of Deputy Minister for Work with Personnel and as interim minister of defense. Tadtaev also alleged that almost all of the money had been awarded by Dzhussoev to construction companies that he and his family owned.

Tadtayev, Dzhioev, and Kambolov governments and resignation (2026)

Dzhussoev would be constitutionally replaced by his First Deputy Prime Minister and finance minister Dzambolyt Tadtayev.

Personal life Gagloev is married and has two children.