Georgia resumed Russian gas transits to the breakaway region of South Ossetia on January 23. Gas supplies to South Ossetia were halted for several hours early on Sunday due to a minor accident at the Georgian gas transit system but were restored later in the afternoon.
After a disruption of almost six months, "the supply of Russian gas to Tskhinval via the territory of Georgia has been restored. We are satisfied that common sense has prevailed in Tbilisi and the residents of South Ossetia and surrounding Georgian regions can now have heat and energy in their houses," the ministry said in a statement posted on its web site.
Georgia cut off gas deliveries to its breakaway republic in August stating that a section of the pipeline in South Ossetia had been damaged. With winter closing in, Moscow suggested Georgia was falsely claiming the pipeline had been damaged to avoid sending gas to South Ossetia.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states on August 26 last year, two weeks after the end of a five-day military conflict which began when Georgian forces launched an attack on South Ossetia in order to bring the rebel province under central control.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia split from Georgia in the early 1990s, and most residents of both republics have had Russian citizenship for a number of years.
Russian energy giant Gazprom earlier announced its plans to build a gas pipeline to directly connect Russia and South Ossetia.
