Znaur Gassiev

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Znaur Nikolayevich Gassiyev (17 March 1925 – 6 March 2016) was a South Ossetian politician and a leader of the independence movement in the early 1990s, which led to the 1991–1992 South Ossetia conflict. He was born in Tskhinvali, moved to Moscow with his family, and returned to Tskhinvali as a young man. He finished school in 1942, studied physics and mathematics, and served in the Soviet Army during World War II. After the war he taught math and physics, then moved to Tbilisi to study mining, graduating with honors in 1955.

Gassiyev then worked in the mining sector and entered politics, holding various local roles. He rose through the South Ossetian leadership, becoming deputy chairman of the South Ossetian executive committee in 1965 and later leading the Tskhinvali branch of the Georgian Communist Party. In the early 1990s he became a key figure in South Ossetia’s push for independence and served as the head of state, while also being the chairman of Parliament.

He remained active in politics after independence, being elected as a member of parliament in 1994 and again in 2004, when his Unity Party won the elections and he served as chairman of Parliament. After the 2008 South Ossetia war, he headed the government’s emergency commission. In 2010 he was appointed state advisor to President Eduard Kokoity. Znaur Gassiyev died on 6 March 2016 at the age of 90.