INTERVIEW - Rebel S.Ossetia wants unity with Russia, more troops

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity attends a news conference in Tskhinvali June 1, 2009.

TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) - A year after Russia and Georgia fought a war over South Ossetia, the leader of the rebel enclave said he wanted to unite his people with Russia and called on the Kremlin to deploy more troops and weapons.

"My goal in life, my political goal, is to unite my people," the self-styled president, Eduard Kokoity, told Reuters in an interview in the enclave's capital Tskhinvali.

"We will build our own state, which will be in alliance with Russia, together with Russia and I am not excluding that one day, we will be part of Russia," he said. "The people of South Ossetia want to be united with Russia."

Georgia attacked South Ossetia on the night of Aug. 7 last year, prompting a crushing counter-strike by Russian forces who pushed further into Georgia proper before pulling back. Moscow then recognised the enclave as an independent state.

The West condemned Russia's recognition of South Ossetia, and the rest of the world, apart from Nicaragua, still considers it part of Georgia. Tensions are still high in the region one year after the five-day war.

Russia took charge of securing the region's de facto borders under an April agreement which, Kokoity said, also stipulated there should be 3,700 Russian troops in the region.

"There is not a big enough presence of Russian troops on South Ossetia's territory," the 44-year-old ex-wrestler said. "I think on our territory, this also includes having more serious weaponry."

He declined to say how many more troops or what sort of weapons Russia should deploy. Russia also plans to open another military base in the region, he said.

RISK OF NEW WAR

Skirmishes between South Ossetia and Georgia ahead of next week's anniversary of the war have underscored the tension and diplomats warn that there is a real risk of a new war.

Both sides accused each other of shelling earlier this week when two loud explosions were heard by Reuters reporters in Tskhinvali.

"I don't want a war and I don't even want to think about war," Kokoity said. "My priority is to create stability in the region and not to let another war start."

South Ossetia and another region, Abkhazia, broke away from Georgian rule in wars in the early 1990s, as the Soviet Union collapsed.

Ethnically distinct from Georgians, South Ossetians speak their own, Farsi-related language and say they have been separated from their fellow people in the neighbouring region of North Ossetia in Russia.

Cars arriving in South Ossetia from Russia -- the only official way into the the pine-covered statelet 100 km (60 miles) north of the Georgian capital Tbilisi -- are greeted with a billboard saying "Ossetia is indivisible".

Ninety eight percent of South Ossetia's population hold Russian passports, Russian is the lingua franca and the Russian rouble their currency.

Kokoity said Russia was not yet ready for unification "because this involves a very serious accusation of annexing territory."

"If Ossetia is united, then I shall leave the political arena for good."