Turkmenistan’s threatened CIS withdrawal: energy security for Georgia

President Safar Murat Niazov of Turkmenistan stated on January 19 that his country has decided to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Analysts say that the major reason for such a radical proclamation is that Turkmenistan is upset with Gazprom. Gazprom controls the distribution of natural gas from Turkmenistan and it has recently been manipulating prices of Turkmen natural gas.