The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova has launched the procedure for Moldova’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States. The parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee approved an advisory opinion on denouncing the Organization’s Statute, the Agreement on Establishment, and its additional protocol.
Committee Chair Doina Gherman stated that, under Article 5 of the Agreement, member states “recognize and respect each other’s territorial integrity and the inviolability of existing borders within the community.” However, she argued that this principle has not been respected by the Russian Federation. In this context, she referred to the cases of Georgia and Ukraine, the annexation of territories from other states, as well as the continued presence of Russian troops in Moldova’s Transnistrian region.
“During the advancement of the EU accession process, there will inevitably be a need to align CIS membership status with the future status of EU member state, including the renunciation of CIS-related obligations that would contradict commitments undertaken in relation to the EU. Denouncing the Agreement will not require allocations from the state budget. Moreover, the Republic of Moldova will fully withdraw from the statutory bodies of the CIS, which will lead to the cessation of annual contributions of approximately 3.1 million lei to the CIS unified budget,” Gherman said.
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova began reviewing agreements within the CIS framework and denouncing a significant number of documents signed under the Community. Of the 283 documents currently in force, 71 have already been denounced, while around 60 are under examination, according to Gherman.