How much should Moldova pay to leave the organization sponsored by Russia. Foreign Minister: “Let's be at peace”
Mihai Popsoi, Photo: Inquam Photos / Elena Covalenco
The Republic of Moldova proposed to definitively leave the Commonwealth of Independent States by the end of the year, but to complete the process it still has to denounce a series of agreements and pay an arrears of 100,000 euros, due as a contribution, informs the NewsMaker portal, quoted by Agerpres.
It is not an “exorbitant” amount and it will have to be paid if the Republic of Moldova wants to respect its international commitments, said Mihai Popşoi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova.
“If we want to respect international law and be at peace, we should probably pay this arrears, although we have to admit that for many years we have not received any benefits from our participation in the CIS from those payments we used to make,” the Moldovan minister emphasized.
The Chisinau authorities initiated the withdrawal process from the CIS against the backdrop of the Russian Federation's military aggression against Ukraine. Starting from 2022, the Republic of Moldova no longer participates in the CIS activity, and in 2023 the president Maia Sandu announced that the authorities will review the agreements concluded within the CIS and will denounce some of them. Also in 2023, the Chisinau government informed that it will exclude CIS from the list of international organizations for which it pays annual membership fees. Commenting on these decisions, the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, declared that the participation of the Republic of Moldova in the CIS would not have a significant value, notes NewsMaker.
A long process
In total, the Republic of Moldova signed 283 agreements within the CIS. Of these, 71 have already been denounced, and approximately 60 are in the process of being denounced. Recently, the foreign minister announced that, in the next period, the authorities will denounce three fundamental agreements: the CIS Statute, the Agreement on the creation of the CIS and its annexes. The denunciation of these documents would be equivalent to the de facto termination of the Republic of Moldova's status as a member state of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
According to the minister, the parliament could adopt the denunciation decision even in February. Later, the documents will be promulgated by the president Maia Sandu, published in the Official Gazette and sent to the CSI secretariat. From the point of view of international law, after the notification follows a period of approximately six months, at the end of which the Republic of Moldova will no longer have the legal status of a CIS member state. “It is a historic decision”, declared Mihai Popşoi.
The Commonwealth of Independent States was formed in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, consisting of the former Soviet republics, with the exception of the Baltic States which were never part of the CIS. The CIS currently consists of eight former Soviet countries, after Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine withdrew. Turkmenistan has only associate membership status.
