In the occupied Tskhinvali region, following a three-day search and rescue operation, the body of 52-year-old Russian citizen Anna Tyts, who drowned in an accident, has been recovered. The news has received significant coverage in Georgian media due to the deceased’s propaganda activities.
Anna Tyts, known by her pen name Anna Zakharyan, was swept away by the swift current of the Great Liakhvi River. The search operation, involving more than 200 personnel and drones, lasted for several days. The de facto Tskhinvali authorities, assuming that the body might have been carried into Tbilisi-controlled territory, even contacted the central government of Georgia via the hotline. Ultimately, the deceased was found 35 kilometers from the scene.
The tragedy occurred on the evening of May 21 in the Java municipality, near the village of Zgubiri, when Anna and a colleague went for a walk. A video has circulated online showing Anna and a man falling from a suspension bridge into the water. According to investigators, the man, a native of the Tskhinvali region, was rocking the structure. The man managed to save himself, while Anna was swept away by the current.
Tyts had arrived in South Ossetia as part of a film crew of so-called “documentarians.” The purpose of the visit was to present and screen a propaganda film dedicated to local residents fighting against Ukraine. According to some reports, Anna wrote the screenplay and directed the film.
Notably, screening this propaganda piece in the occupied region was not her first controversial mission.
Back in 2018, Polish authorities detained and deported Tyts from the country, bringing official charges of espionage and waging hybrid warfare. At the time, Moscow linked the incident to the activities of her husband, Jerzy Tyc, a Polish national known for his pro-Russian activism. A former serviceman, he founded the “Kursk” association, which positioned itself as an organization dedicated to restoring Soviet monuments and military cemeteries in Poland.
Tyc regularly appeared in federal media, met with Kremlin officials, and followed his wife to Moscow after her deportation. Notably, he voluntarily joined the Russian army and went to fight in Ukraine. Jerzy Tyc’s remains were found in the east of the country in September 2025.
The investigation into the circumstances of Anna Tyts’s own death is ongoing. A criminal case for causing death by negligence has been opened against the resident of the occupied region who fell from the bridge along with the deceased.
