Russian-backed integration project falls apart as Moldova drifts further away

Moldova will stop paying membership fees to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an integration initiative launched following the breakup of the Soviet Union and de-facto controlled by Russia, Radio Europa Liberă reports.

The Moldovan government is removing the CIS from the list of organisations to which the country pays annual membership fees.

According to the draft decision of the country’s finance ministry, EUR 830,000 less will be allocated for the payment of annual membership fees in international organisations in 2023, as Moldova stops paying dues to the Interparliamentary Assembly and seven other CIS structures.

Earlier, due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moldova announced its gradual withdrawal from the CIS and denounced a number of agreements within the organisation.

In July 2023, the Moldovan parliament voted to withdraw from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and from agreements on a common educational space, border troops, and the exchange of information on emergencies, among others.

Moldovan foreign ministry secretary of state Ruslan Bolbochan said in September that "Moldova no longer resonates with the policies, values and direction of development" of the CIS.

The first draft resolution on Moldova’s withdrawal from the CIS was registered in the country's parliament back in 2018.

The reasons for this step were Russia's repeated violations of the CIS agreement, its support for the separatist regime in Transnistria, Russia's military aggression against Moldova in 1992, and Russia's occupation of part of Ukraine.