Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Vyatcheslav Sinyugin said on September 16 that Moscow is to speed up the construction of a new gas pipeline to the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali. “We are targeting June 2009 as the completion date,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying at a meeting with officials responsible for dealing with the aftermath of the recent conflict in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. Prior to Tbilisi’s invasion, natural gas was delivered to South Ossetia from Georgia via a pipeline, which was partially destroyed during Russia’s operation to protect the breakaway republics. Russia is temporarily providing South Ossetia with liquefied gas, but will make the construction of a 162-kilometre stretch across the border a priority. Russia’s energy giant Gazpromand natural gas producer Itera will be involved in the project. Sinyugin said the damage to South Ossetian energy supply infrastructure from the conflict was an estimated 1.2 billion rubles (about USD 71 million).