Moldova launched the procedure for withdrawing from the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly

Moldova has begun the procedure for withdrawing from the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS). This was announced by the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic, Igor Grosu, on TVR Moldova.

“We have begun the process of withdrawing from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. Naturally, we will have to comply with some legal procedures. The draft decision is in the government, we are waiting for the conclusion,” the speaker said (quote by Interfax).

He noted that the authorities would like to withdraw from the assembly “as soon as possible, by the end of this parliamentary session”, which ends in a month. Grosu added that the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic are conducting “an analysis of the entire legislative framework, all agreements signed by Moldova in the CIS,” and noted that “this is a longer process.” “In some cases, we will need to make sure that there are bilateral agreements with certain CIS states, as well as initiate the signing of such agreements,” he specified.

The decision to withdraw from the CIS Assembly in Chisinau was made in mid-May. Then Grosu explained that his country does not have common borders with the CIS, membership in the association did not allow Moldova to improve its economic situation or resolve the situation around the unrecognized Transnistria.

Relations between Russia and Moldova began to deteriorate after President Maia Sandu came to power. Since then, the influence of the EU on the country has increased significantly, Moldova began to impose restrictions on Russian media, as well as accuse Moscow of “destabilization”. Also in Chisinau, they are in favor of unification with Romania – the country has already replaced the official name of the state language from Moldovan to Romanian.

Sandu herself also has Romanian citizenship, like many MPs, pointed out in an interview with Vedomosti, Vadim Trukhachev, Associate Professor of the Faculty of International Relations and Foreign Regional Studies of the Russian State Humanitarian University. According to the expert, the president of the republic is not a convinced supporter of unification with Romania, but she is “a convinced Atlanticist, a supporter of rapprochement with the EU and NATO at any cost.”