Batir Pukhaev, a lawmaker of the breakaway South Ossetian parliament, has defected to the Kurta-based, Tbilisi-loyal South Ossetian provisional administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev.
Pukhaev told Tbilisi-based Alania TV on January 26 that he had been ?forced out? of Tskhinvali late in December because of his ?critical stance? towards Eduard Kokoity, the South Ossetian secessionist leader.