Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia plans to become part of Russia and will host Russian military bases, the rebel leader Eduard Kokoity told journalists Monday.
"We aim for this," Kokoity said when asked if the enclave intended to join Russia. "We will form a military union with the Russian Federation and we will ask that Russian military bases be placed in South Ossetia."
South Ossetia occupies a mountainous region in the north of Georgia and was home to ethnic Ossetians and ethnic Georgians before a brief war last month in which Russian troops drove out the Georgian army.
Thousands of Georgians have fled in what the Georgian government says is a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Moscow has recognized the independence of the separatist South Ossetian state, but is the only country to do so.
Kokoity, an Ossetian, told journalists visiting the capital Tskhinvali on a Kremlin-organized trip that "we do not plan to form a monoethnic state."
He said some Georgians would be allowed back to their villages, most of which have been destroyed, but "we won't let back those who fought us...We won't let everyone back, only those who didn't fight. We have all the information."
Kokoity said the villages had been destroyed in fighting. "Yes, we won. We took those villages and now should I apologize to someone?"
Human Rights Watch says newly released satellite photos demonstrates that Georgian houses were systematically targeted by arsonists, rather than in combat.