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South Ossetian president Kokoity resigns

Prime Minister Vadim Brovtsev, 42, will be acting president in South Ossetia pending the presidential election in March 2012

TSKHINVAL, December 10 (Itar-Tass) —— South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity has announced his resignation.

Kokoity, 47, a former wrestler and physical culture teacher, appeared in the political arena during the Georgian-South Ossetian confrontation in 1990-1991 when he created and headed a combat unit of South Ossetian defenders.

In 1990-1993, he was an MP in South Ossetia; in 1993-1997 worked as an assistant to Russian State Duma deputy Anatoly Chekhoyev.

In February 1997, Kokoity was appointed a trade representative to Russia with the rank of minister.

He was elected president of South Ossetia in December 2001 and re-elected for a second term in 2006.

Under the agreement with opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva, Prime Minister Vadim Brovtsev, 42, will be acting president in South Ossetia pending the presidential election in March 2012.

Brovtsev is a graduate of the Sverdslovsk Institute of the National Economy where he majored in the economy and planning of logistical operations.

In 1990, he founded the construction company Vermikulit in Chelyabinsk. In 2005, he became chairman of its board of directors.

Since August 5, 2009, Brovtsev has been the prime minister of South Ossetia.