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By Anna Smolchenko, Matt Siegel / Staff Writers VLADIKAVKAZ -- President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday made a surprise visit to Vladikavkaz, near the border with South Ossetia, to commend soldiers on their valor during the conflict with Georgia and promise them a better future. The visit, his first to the region since the outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia on August 7, appeared to be aimed at projecting an image of him as the politician calling the shots in Moscow. The trip to Vladikavkaz, on the border with South Ossetia, followed a visit to Kursk, where he said during commemorations of a World War II battle that the killing of Russian citizens and peacekeepers would "not go unpunished." Medvedev's trip to the North Ossetian capital traced the footsteps of his... [read full story]
