Moldova to initiate withdrawal procedure from CIS Parliamentary Assembly

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Moldova on Monday announced that it will initiate a procedure for withdrawing from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

"After 30 years, it became very clear that the inclusion of the Republic of Moldova in the structures of the CIS did not help us to resolve the Transnistrian conflict, it did not help us to remove the Russian army from the territory of the Republic of Moldova,” Igor Grosu, the head of the Moldovan parliament said during a press briefing.

Grosu noted that Moldova’s membership to the body did not protect Chisinau from “painful economic embargoes” and from “energy blackmail” during the winter months, saying it also did not protect member countries from “military attacks, war, and illegal occupation of sovereign territories.”

“After a founding country of the CIS, the Russian Federation, barbarically attacked another founding state, Ukraine, occupying its territories and killing its citizens, this organization can no longer be called a Community," Grosu further said.

He also said Moldova is an independent country and free to make sovereign decisions, adding that it has demonstrated in the past 30 years that it wants “democracy, freedom, and prosperity at home.”

“We are doing step by step what the citizens expect from us -- we are providing our children with a stable, prosperous, and opportunity-filled future. A European future,” he said.

Separately, a statement by the Moldovan parliament said Grosu will procedurally submit a proposal requesting the country to prepare for its withdrawal from the CIS body to Prime Minister Dorin Recean.

Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said in an interview with local media in February that the country will begin to withdraw from agreements with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) due to Chisinau's "goal of European integration."

A month later, Chisinau announced its decision to recall its representative in the executive body of the CIS.

The CIS is a regional organization formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 by its former members to encourage cooperation in economic, political, and security affairs.