The Information and Press Department of the government of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia reports that activists from the Georgian youth movement Kmara!, which spearheaded the protests last fall that culminated in Shevardnadze\'s ouster, have recently begun trying to mobilize the minority Georgian population of South Ossetia. Also on 20 May, participants in a meeting in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, to mark the 12th anniversary of the killing by Georgian forces of Ossetian refugees adopted an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov to recognize South Ossetia as an independent state and then accept it as a member of the Russian Federation. The meeting participants stressed that only Russia can guarantee South Ossetia\'s security and create conditions for its economy to flourish. (RFE/RL)