A lowered Georgian flag on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Minsk, Belarus, symbolized Georgia's withdrawal from the regional bloc that groups former Soviet republics.
Georgia was the last among those republics to join the alliance in December 1993, and was also the first to walk away from it after a five-day war with Russia over its breakaway region of South Ossetia last August.
With geopolitical races escalating in South Caucasus, what this back-off will entail for Georgia and the CIS has raised global concerns.
Five-day war direct trigger
Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war last August, when Georgia attacked South Ossetia to retake the region that borders Russia. In response, Moscow sent in troops to drive Georgian forces out of there.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states two weeks after the conflict ended, but no country has followed suit except for Nicaragua.
On Aug. 14, 2008, the Georgian parliament unanimously passed a resolution to terminate the application for three agreements within the CIS framework. Four days later, the Georgian foreign ministry notified the CIS Executive Committee of the withdrawal.
The CIS Charter stipulates that formal withdrawal can only take effect 12 months after the CIS executive committee is notified of the decision.
The Georgian foreign ministry said Tuesday in a statement that the decision to withdraw from the CIS was caused by Russia's "occupation of the inalienable parts of the Georgian territory, ethnic cleansing and recognition of the so-called 'independence' of the proxy regimes set up by Russia on the occupied territories."
Analysts said Georgia's CIS admission and withdrawal were all directly related to territorial integrity and sovereignty.
In 1993, former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze decided to join the alliance to solve the territorial issue as Abkhazia announced its independence one year earlier.
A Georgian Caucasus expert said that along with the outbreak of last August's conflict, it had finally dawned on Georgia that it was totally meaningless to stay in the CIS because it could not help solve the territorial issue.
