South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast
In 1989, violent unrest broke out in South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast between the Georgian independence-minded population of the region and Ossetians loyal to the Soviet Union. South Ossetia's regional soviet announced that the region would secede from Georgia to form a "Soviet Democratic Republic". In response, the Georgian Supreme Soviet annulled the autonomy of South Ossetia in March 1990.