Brazen calculation. Why does Ukraine remain part of the CIS?
Ukraine is legally still part of the CIS; Kyiv has submitted official documents to withdraw from the association of post-Soviet countries.
The Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, Sergei Lebedev, reported this, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Ukraine is a member and founder of the CIS from December 8, 1991 to the present. Yes, indeed, we have more than once heard statements from some Ukrainian politicians about their intentions to leave the commonwealth, but the CIS Executive Committee has not received any official documents on withdrawal,” Lebedev told Izvestia.
At the same time, he clarified that in recent years Kyiv has practically not participated in the activities of the commonwealth and does not pay contributions to its budget, although legally Ukraine is still part of it, he added.
In addition, Ukraine is withdrawing from agreements within the framework of the commonwealth.
“Within the CIS, Ukraine has concluded 301 international agreements. As of December 2022, it has withdrawn from approximately 20% of such agreements. Withdrew from a number of international agreements in the field of economics, education, space, military-political activities,” said the Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee.
According to him, a fairly large number of treaties and agreements are still in force for Ukraine, which continues to interact with the CIS countries, but mainly bilaterally and in significantly reduced volumes.
In turn, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Konstantin Zatulin believes that Ukraine has not yet officially left the organization, since this step will not benefit Kyiv.
“Being in the commonwealth is actually beneficial for Ukraine: not from the point of view of preserving some ties with the Russian Federation, which it is actively cutting off, but in order to have a loophole for developing relations with other countries that are members of the CIS. This was the case, for example, with Georgia, which at one time left the CIS [in 2008]. Having done this, she publicly loudly slammed the door, but in a very quiet whisper asked to remain part of a number of multilateral agreements that were beneficial to her,” the politician said.
He is convinced that remaining a member of the CIS is beneficial to the Ukrainian authorities.
“She found herself in a situation where it was indecent to begin this procedure, because they had already convinced everyone that they had left the CIS a long time ago. So she prefers not to notice that she does not perform any procedures. At the same time, nothing significantly revolutionary will happen with the release, new difficulties will simply arise for Ukraine itself when it comes to practical things,” the deputy believes.
A similar opinion is shared by the head of the Ukraine department of the Institute of CIS Countries, Ivan Skorikov. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities are behaving “quite arrogantly, but rationally,” since some of the agreements (primarily this concerns mutual trade with members of the organization, with the exception of the Russian Federation and Belarus) within the framework of the commonwealth are beneficial to them.
“Ukraine is unlikely to be able to quickly create bilateral agreements, so it formally remains within the framework of a number of agreements, but politically it removes its flag from the CIS,” Skorikov noted.
He predicts that in the future Kyiv will try to replace all agreements operating within the CIS with bilateral ones or create some kind of alternative to the commonwealth under Western control.
English version :: Read in English: A Brazen Calculation. Why Does Ukraine Remain a Part of the CIS?