President Saakashvili said Georgia would quit the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and officially denounce Russian troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia as “occupational forces.”

“We have decided to quit the CIS and to say farewell to the Soviet Union,” Saakashvili told a crowd of tens of thousands of people gathered outside Parliament. “We call on Ukraine and other members to also quit the Russian-ruled CIS .”

“We have also decided to rescind the Russian peacekeepers’ mandate and to declare Abkhazia and South Ossetia occupied territories of Georgia,” he added.