Poroshenko signs order on Ukraine's withdrawal from all CIS statutory bodies
KYIV. May 19 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he signed an order on the withdrawal of all Ukrainian representatives from all statutory bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
"I have signed an order on the withdrawal of all Ukrainian representatives from all CIS statutory bodies today. We have nothing to do there; we are headed for Europe," Poroshenko said during the Day of Europe celebrations in Vinnytsia on Saturday.
The future of Ukraine lies in Europe, Poroshenko said.
The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) supported the proposed withdrawal from CIS bodies on May 2, 2018.
The NSDC ordered the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to follow the procedure of terminating certain interstate agreements.
Poroshenko said earlier that Ukraine would stop participating in the activity of CIS coordination bodies. "We cannot withdraw from where Ukraine has never been a party to. Yet our participation in the activity of the CIS coordination bodies will stop," he said.
Ukraine, Russia and Belarus signed the CIS founding agreement on December 8, 1991. Yet Kyiv refused to sign the CIS Charter adopted at the CIS summit in Minsk in January 1993. Ukraine's participation in CIS events was minimized in spring 2014.