Moscow has welcomed the resumption of gas supplies to South Ossetia via Georgia. The flow was disrupted by the conflict in the Caucasus during the summer.

In a statement posted on its website, the Foreign Ministry said it was “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.”

Irakli Nikolaishvili, Deputy General Director of Gerorgian gas supply company, Itera, said supplies of Russian gas to South Ossetia resumed on Saturday.

By the end of January, 500,000 cubic metres of gas are expected to be delivered to the new Caucasus republic, he told Interfax.

Georgia cut the supply to Tskhinval in August, saying that a section of pipeline in South Ossetia had been damaged. The move left Georgia’s former region without natural gas for almost six months.

Russia raised the issue with international organisations and on January 22 Nino Enukidze, Georgia's deputy energy minister, said that gas supplies to the republic could resume in the near future.