Moldova to officially quit CIS on April 8, 2027 - FM
CHISINAU. April 15 (Interfax) - Moldova will officially withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on April 8, 2027, Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi told journalists following a government meeting on Wednesday.
According to the established procedure, Moldova's withdrawal from the CIS would be legally completed 12 months after it notified the CIS Executive Committee of its decision to denounce the commonwealth's statutory documents, Popsoi said.
"Therefore, from a legal, formal standpoint, from the standpoint of international law, we [Moldova] will no longer be a member of the CIS twelve months after this," he said.
"But in reality, in practice, we have not participated in this, including various CIS events, for a long time, as this does not meet Moldova's national interests," Popșoi said.
The Moldovan parliament passed legislation to withdraw from the agreement on the establishment of the CIS and the CIS charter at the final reading in early April.
The denunciation of said agreements had been initiated by the Moldovan Foreign Ministry, which argued that some CIS members were not observing the fundamental CIS values and principles, particularly the provision stipulating that member states shall mutually recognize and respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of the existing borders. Chisinau believes that this principle, which underpinned the creation of the CIS, is being violated by Russia with respect to Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.
To date, Moldova has withdrawn from 71 out of 283 CIS agreements, and about 60 are under consideration. In May 2023, the Moldovan parliament passed a final resolution on the country's withdrawal from an agreement on founding the CIS's Mir television and radio company. Moldova also withdrew from a convention on the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in July 2023. The Moldovan government announced in January 2024 that it identified 119 CIS agreements that were of no value to Moldova. Starting in 2024, Moldova also stopped paying membership fees to the CIS and other organizations on its platform.
Legislators from the Party of Communists and the Party of Socialists voted against the withdrawal from the agreements, arguing that the step would have a negative impact on the Moldovan economy.
