Moldova plans to withdraw from all agreements – totaling around 330 – signed within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) by the end of 2024.
Doina Gherman, a Moldovan lawmaker from the Action and Solidarity Party, said in a TV interview that Moldova is in its final stage of withdrawal, although it might not be marked with a formal declaration.
The CIS is a regional intergovernmental organization consisting of member states from the former Soviet Union formed in 1991 upon its dissolution. It advocates cooperation in economic, political and military affairs among some of the post-Soviet nations, which differs from the EU’s more structured governance model.
Moldova’s withdrawal from the Russian-led bloc, of which it has been a member since its independence in 1991, would be a significant step for Moldova in severing its ties to Russia.
I wonder why the countries we threaten to invade and destroy walk away from us!
Note: it should say ‘end of 2024’, takes more than a week to wrap this up it seems
For anybody wondering, this will leave only Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus in CIS (alongside Russia ofc). Turkmenistan is an associate state in a “I can take or leave it” sort of way, they’ve been participating in CIS activities but are not reliant on it and are increasingly skeptical about its benefits.
My money’s on Armenia being the next one out. They had a democratic movement winning power (against the objections of Russia), which was followed by Russia shirking its peacekeeping obligations when Azerbaijan invaded Nagorno-Karabakh, so there’s no love lost for Russia in Yerevan these days.
Kazakhstan has explicitly refused to help Russia in Ukraine and is slowly forging closer ties with the west.
Edit to add a source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/shocked-by-ukraine-war-russian-neighbour-kazakhstan-looks-west-2022-11-17/
Russia gets very, very angry when you transition out of CIS.