The CIS told what the consequences of leaving the CIS would be for Ukraine
The recent statement by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about the need to begin the procedure for Ukraine’s withdrawal from the CIS will affect ordinary people.
Permanent Representative of Russia to the CIS Andrei Shvedov spoke about this in an interview with Kommersant, noting that the purpose of the Commonwealth is, first of all, constant communication and dialogue, the development of joint decisions and agreements in the interests of the countries of the region, mutually beneficial cooperation.
“By leaving the organization, the state deprives itself of these tools and limits its own foreign policy resource. It is Kyiv's job to deal with its losses, as is its right to convince its citizens why leaving the CIS is good for them. Let's see what “arguments” will be presented in the end. The only thing I want to say in advance is the unacceptability and absolute groundlessness of attempts to present the Commonwealth as an almost “hostile” organization to Ukrainians,” Shvedov said.
He emphasized that Ukraine’s exit from the CIS is unlikely to affect the practical functioning of the organization.
“Since 2014, Ukrainians have not made any real contribution to joint work: they have not paid an annual contribution, they have recalled their quota officers from the executive committee, they have not participated in meetings at the level of top officials, and they have not signed documents. In these circumstances, the Commonwealth continued to actively, without failure, develop cooperation, including improving and adapting its own activities to modern realities,” the diplomat said.
At the same time, Shvedov added, all this time Ukrainians had the opportunity to keep their finger on the pulse, express their opinions and even block some decisions, in particular in the field of military cooperation, after which they had to look for other legal procedures to prevent slipping in the adoption of important decisions.
“Does Kyiv, in principle, intend to turn its back on regional cooperation, or plans to maintain participation in the multilateral documents it signed within the CIS - this is a question that must be asked of the Ukrainian authorities. For the Ukrainian side, there are currently 226 such multilateral documents. Among them, for example, is the Agreement on a free trade zone, conventions on legal assistance and the legal status of migrant workers, agreements on the provision of medical care, and on guarantees of citizens’ rights in the field of pensions.
In general, the main thing in cooperation within the CIS is the human dimension. It is obvious that “falling out” from the array of agreements developed here cannot but affect the interests of specific people,” warned the Russian representative in the CIS.
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