Members of parliament denounced the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS, its protocol, and the organization’s charter.
Why Moldova decided to withdraw
The initiative for the denunciation came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry argued that the core principles of the CIS — mutual recognition of territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders — are no longer being observed.
Russia, which is a member of the Commonwealth, is waging war against Ukraine, previously carried out aggression against Georgia, and is illegally deploying troops on the territory of Moldova (in the Transnistrian region). In Chișinău’s view, this makes continued membership in the organization impossible.
Savings and European integration
After the denunciation, Moldova’s state budget will save about 3.1 million lei annually — the amount the country had been contributing to the CIS budget.
Withdrawal from the organization is also considered a “natural and inevitable step” on the path toward joining the European Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.
What happens next
Even after withdrawing from the statutory bodies, Moldova will continue cooperating with individual member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States through bilateral and multilateral platforms. The country will remain a party to a number of agreements within the Commonwealth, particularly in trade-economic and social areas.
Prior to this decision, Moldova had already denounced around 70 agreements within the CIS as part of a gradual alignment of its national legislation with European Union standards.
In March, Moldova repeatedly faced the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On March 16, after a Russian strike on the Dniester Hydroelectric Power Plant, an environmental alert was declared in the country — there was a threat to the water supply for one million citizens.
The following day, in southern Moldova, in the village of Tudora, a Russian Shahed drone carrying explosives crashed.
On March 23, the country’s President Maia Sandu stated that Moldova is ready to become part of the Coalition of the Willing to support Ukraine.