On February 1, the de facto president of the occupied Tskhinvali region, Alan Gagloyev, met with the Head of the Directorate for Interregional Relations and Cultural Contacts with Foreign Countries of the Russian Presidential Administration, Igor Maslov. Maslov visited the region on a two-day working visit.

At the meeting, Gagloyev expressed his gratitude to Maslov for facilitating the Russian government's decision to abolish the export duty on fuel and lubricants. On December 30, the Russian government signed a protocol to abolish the tax, which the region had been waiting for months.

As Gagloyev noted, the year 2024 will be politically busy due to the Russian presidential elections, in which the population of the region will also participate since a large part of them have Russian citizenship. Illegitimate parliamentary elections are also planned in the occupied region.

Maslov, for his part, said that it was because of the politically important year that the Russian delegation decided to visit the region at the beginning of the year. The Russian delegation got acquainted with the ongoing work under the investment program promoting the socio and economic development. The program was developed by the Russian government and is aimed at providing economic and infrastructural support to the occupied regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region.

At the end of the meeting, Maslov told Gagloyev that „Moscow, the government, the President Administration and personally the Supreme Commander have a very positive attitude towards the republic.“