On August 18, the CMPC session demanded the immediate withdrawal of Georgian troops from Abkhazia, and on August 21, the President of the CMPC, Yuri Shanibov, the Chairman of the Confederation's Parliament, Yusup Soslambekov, issued a decree on the commencement of the transfer of volunteers to the territory of Abkhazia for armed rebuff to the aggressor. On the basis of volunteers from the North Caucasus in Abkhazia, the first and second separate battalions were formed, as well as the third reserve battalion.