Russia has provided a total of 28 billion rubles ($950 mln) to facilitate South Ossetia's economic development, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Friday.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier said Russia would grant the republic 6.8 billion rubles in 2011, while nearby Abkhazia would receive 3.2 billion.
Shuvalov stressed that Russia would be sending more funds not for the republic's economic reconstruction but for "building up its economic capability."
He said Moscow and the tiny republic should decide on a list of projects that Russia will "invest in the future of South Ossetia."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday he is sure Russia did the right thing in August 2008 when it fought Georgia and recognized the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russia recognized the republics after repelling Georgia's assault on South Ossetia in a five-day war. Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny Pacific island state of Nauru later followed suit.
Medvedev also reiterated Russia's readiness to restore relations with Georgia after the departure of its current president, Mikheil Saakashvili. He stressed that diplomatic ties with Georgia had been ruined through none of Russia's fault, laying the entire responsibility on Saakashvili.
South Ossetia, along with Abkhazia, broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti)
