quot;Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">. Subsequently, the town became
largely Ossetian due to intense urbanization and Soviet
Korenizatsiya("nativization") policy which induced an inflow of
the Ossetians from the nearby rural areas into Tskhinvali. It was essentially
an industrial centre, with lumber mills and manufacturing plants, and had also
several cultural and educational institutions such as a venerated Pedagogical
Institute (currently Tskhinvali State University) and a drama theatre.
According to the last Soviet
census (in 1989), Tskhinvali had a
population of 42,934.
During the
acute phase of the Georgian-Ossetian
conflict, Tskhinvali was a scene of ethnic
tensions and ensuing armed confrontation between Georgian and
