Residents of South Ossetia are outraged over new Russian customs rules, which have made demands on automobiles entering the Russian Federation stricter and which have increased taxes and excise payments.
Due to the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, especially after the August War of 2008, the Ossetian authorities completely blocked the route leading to Georgia.
The only way to leave South Ossetia is through the road to Vladikavkaz, to North Ossetia.
On September 16-18, hundreds of drivers with South Ossetian license numbers held an unauthorised rally outside the Russian customs building in Vladikavkaz.
However, the Russian authorities refused to change the new regulations. The only thing that was offered to protesters was to collect signatures under an appeal to the President of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov with a request to conduct negotiations in Moscow on customs issues.
