Georgia to quit CIS after consultations with EU, U.S.

According to RIA Novosti, President Mikhail Saakashvili instructed his government May 2 to look at economic aspects of the country's continued membership of the CIS and report back within two months, a move that could signal the beginning of Georgia's withdrawal from the CIS, a loose union of former Soviet republics.

"In any case, before the GUAM [Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova] summit in Kiev slated for May 22, Georgia is unlikely to calculate the complex consequences of withdrawal from the CIS," Mamuka Areshidze said, adding that the calculations would take a long time. "This is a painstaking process."

Asked whether Georgia's thoughts about quitting the CIS had been prompted by a place promised to the country in NATO, Areshidze said: "No one can tell this for sure now, and NATO countries are watching whether Georgia will manage to find a way out with subtlety and dignity."

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said Sunday Georgia and Ukraine were considering what benefits could be gained from staying in the CIS. Ukraine has said it will start work on joining NATO in 2006, and Georgia has also declared its intention to join the alliance.

Another expert with the Strategy and International Relations Study Foundation, Archil Gegeshidze, said Georgia would finally have to make a choice between Russia and the West.

"Economically, Georgia will have many more problems than today," he said, as it would "lose the Russian market for good and move away from the Russian space."

Soso Tsiskarishvili, an economic expert, said Georgia would face Russian natural gas prices of 230 euros ($300) per 1,000 cubic meters but that the "difficulties will be of a temporary nature."