GEORGIA TO WITHDRAW FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES

CNN International
August 12, 2008

Georgia to leave alliance of ex-Soviet states

TBILISI, Georgia (CNN) — Georgia’s president said Tuesday his nation
would withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),
an alliance of former Soviet republics.

Mikheil Saakashvili told reporters his government made the move in
consultation with parliament and that it would be a departure from
links to the old Soviet Union.

The president said the strikes against his country have been conducted
by people who want to restore the Soviet Union. By leaving the CIS,
he said, "we are giving final adios to the Soviet Union."

Saakashvili said the CIS "has totally failed as an international
organization" and it "basically could not do anything to prevent this
tragedy from happening," a reference to the conflict between Russia
and Georgia that began last week. Watch Georgia’s reaction to halt
in fighting "

The CIS was created in 1991 and has included Georgia, Russia,
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.