Brussels:The Russian government has allocated $200 million in urgent aid for South Ossetia to tackle a growing humanitarian crisis there, Russia's envoy to NATO has said.

"The government has urgently earmarked over $200 million to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe from worsening," Dmitry Rogozin told a briefing Monday.

The provincial capital of Tskhinvali has been left in ruins by Georgia's military offensive.

Russia says more than 2,000 civilians have been killed and over 34,000 have fled the area.

South Ossetia will receive $400 million from Russia for reconstruction work next year, Rogozin said.

Russia's finance minister had earlier said urgent humanitarian aid could be added to reconstruction allocations, which will be taken from Russia's 2009 budget.

"We have reserved $10 billion for 2009. But of course reconstruction should be started this year. Whether it will take a billion, two, or three will be determined, and then we will make adjustments in the 2008 budget," Alexei Kudrin said.

Most of South Ossetia's 80,000 residents are Russian citizens.

 

 

Source : IANS