Dmitry Sanakoyev, the winner of an "alternative" presidential election in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, was inaugurated in the conflict zone last December.
"The president delegated all the functions of the presidential administration head in the region to Dmitry Sanakoyev," Dmitry Kitoshvili told journalists.
He said Sanakoyev will speak to Georgia's parliament May 11 with a report on the administration's key tasks in the Tskhinvali Region, the name Tbilisi uses for South Ossetia.
South Ossetia held a presidential election, along with a referendum to reaffirm its independence, November 12. Georgia, which is seeking to regain control over the region, organized an alternative poll in local Georgian-populated villages on the same day.
Sanakoyev, a former prime minister of South Ossetia now regarded as a "defector" in the self-proclaimed republic, swore on South Ossetia's present Constitution, saying in two languages that he "would work to promote the interests of the Ossetian people and to ensure peace between Georgians and Ossetians."
The breakaway republic dismissed the "alternative" election as a "farce." The results of South Ossetia's election and plebiscite have not been recognized as legitimate, either by Georgia or by the West.
South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia following a bloody conflict that killed hundreds in 1991-1992. The pro-Western Georgian government of Mikheil Saakashvili has said it is determined to bring the breakaway region back under its control.
Although Tbilisi and Tskhinvali, the capitals of Georgia and South Ossetia, have maintained a truce, confrontations still occur in the region.
