Georgia exits Commonwealth of Independent States
Georgia has completed formal procedures to exit the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Effective from August 18, 2009 Georgia is not a member of this regional grouping of 12 former Soviet republics, founded in 1991. The Belapan news agency reminds that Georgia's president Mikhail Saakashvili announced his intent to withdraw from the CIS in August 2008 in protest to Russia's military operation on the territory of the South Ossetia.
