VLADIKAVKAZ, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 517 refugees have returned to South Ossetia over the past 24 hours, a spokesman for North Ossetia's Emergencies Ministry said on Wednesday.
Since August 12, when Russia concluded its operation to "force Georgia to peace," 29,782 people have returned to South Ossetia from Russia's Southern federal district.
The spokesman also said 6,636 South Ossetian refugees were currently staying with relatives in Russia's North Ossetia.
Moscow said hundreds of civilians and peacekeepers were killed in the Georgia's attack on South Ossetia on August 8, and thousands were forced to flee the devastated region.
On August 26, Russia recognized South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway republic, Abkhazia, as independent states.
