The Republic of Moldova has suspended its participation in the meetings of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The country no longer takes part in the regular meetings of the CIS and this way shows its full disagreement with the tendencies in this space, said Deputy Prime Minister Nicu Popescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration.

“From legal viewpoint, practically the whole internal legislation and the international agreements for many years have been signed based on their compatibility with the European integration, with the Association Agreement and our European aspirations. From legal and technical viewpoints, this incompatibility is not valid. But there is this symbolic dimension in which this formal affiliation to the space of the former Soviet Union points to particular symbolic weight. Many of our citizens do not agree with this. In practical terms, the Republic of Moldova suspended its participation in the CIS meetings,” the official stated in an interview with nordnews.md, IPN reports.

According to Nicu Popescu, the integration into and joining of the EU are Moldova’s absolute priorities to which all the rest of the external actions are subordinate.

The CIS was founded on December 8, 1991 by the Agreement Establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States that was signed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Park (also known as Belovezha Accords). This document laid the foundation of the organization, which united most of the post-Soviet states. The Republic of Moldova joined the economic platform of the CIS in 1994, ignoring the military and political components of this organization, making reference to is constitutional status of neutral state.