Russian director who travelled to South Ossetia to screen pro-war documentary drowns in river
The body of Russian citizen and film director Anna Tyts, who went missing after falling into the Greater Liakhvi River, has been found in South Ossetia. Her body was discovered on Sunday, approximately 35 kilometres downstream from the site of the accident, according to the republic’s emergency services.
According to rescuers, the incident occurred on the evening of 21 May in the village of Zghubiri (Zgubir) in the Java (Dzau) district. Tyts was in South Ossetia as part of a film crew that had travelled there to present the documentary Towards Truth and Justice, dedicated to those from South Ossetia who took part in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The film had been screened in Tskhinvali (Tskhinval) the day before the incident, and Tyts, who worked under the professional name Anna Zakharyan, was its director.
Video footage that circulated on social media appears to show Tyts falling into the river from a suspension bridge while swinging on it together with another man. He also fell into the water but was rescued, while Tyts was swept away by the strong current of the mountain river.
The search operation lasted three days and involved personnel from South Ossetia’s emergency services, Interior Ministry, and Defence Ministry. South Ossetian President Alan Gagloev said he had personally monitored the situation throughout the search operation. More than 200 people and unmanned aerial vehicles were deployed. Rescuers searched dozens of kilometres of the riverbed up to the area near the boundary with Georgia. Georgian rescue services also took part in the search on adjacent territory.
Following the discovery of the body, investigators began forensic and procedural examinations. On Monday, Tyts’s body was transferred to Russia and handed over to her relatives via North Ossetia.
South Ossetia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has launched an inquiry into the circumstances of the incident. According to local authorities, investigators are examining the actions of those accompanying the woman, as well as compliance with safety requirements at the tourist site and the condition of the suspension bridge from which she fell.
For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.
