Separation and integration
President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with Georgia's rebel South Ossetia region in March that almost completely integrates it with Russia, alarming Georgia and the West a year after Moscow took over Crimea.
Russia won a five-day war with Georgia in 2008 over the fate of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It formally recognises both regions as independent states and signed a similar treaty with Abkhazia last year.
An abandoned village is seen near Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.
Trees surround an abandoned house in a remote settlement.
A cow walks past the ruins of a building.
Vendors sell food in the street.
People look into a shop.
A shopkeeper puts fresh produce on display.
A woman fries meat on a wood-fired grill in a cafe.
A man walks in the street.
People drive a car in a street of Leningori.
A truck serving as a mobile bathhouse (known as a banya) is parked in the street.
