Tskhinvali
Tskhinvali (also spelled
Cchinvali) (ge.: ცხინვალი, os.:
Цхинвал), is the capital of separatist region
South Ossetia, a breakaway region of
Georgia. From
1934 to
1961, the city was named
Staliniri, after
Joseph Stalin. Ossetians call the city
Tskhinval, choosing to leave off the 'i', which is
Nominative case ending in
Georgian; the other Ossetian name of the city is
Chreba.
It is located on the
Great Liakhvi River approximately 100 km (62 miles) northwest of the Georgian capital
Tbilisi. The city had a population of 42,934 in
1989 (probably 25,000 in the 2000s). It was an essentially an industrial center, with lumber mills and manufacturing plants.
During the
1991-
1992 Georgian-Ossetian conflict, the city was damaged by fighting between Ossetian separatists and Georgian government and volunteer forces. It is now relatively peaceful, although significantly impoverished in the absence of a permanent political settlement between the two sides.
