Moldova's Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi speaks during a press conference, as foreign ministers and officials of Nordic-Baltic Cooperation (NB8) visit Moldova ahead of the country's upcoming presidential election and a referendum on future European Union membership, in Chisinau, Moldova October 15, 2024. REUTERS/Vladislav Culiomza
CHISINAU, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Moldova is proceeding with the necessary formalities to complete its withdrawal from the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union, Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi said on Monday.
Pro-European President Maia Sandu, who is spearheading a drive for Moldova to join the European Union by the end of the decade, has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accused the Kremlin of trying to subvert her government.
Moldova, one of Europe's poorest states, located between Ukraine and EU member Romania, has ceased taking part in all CIS activities since 2023.
"Let me just say that we are in the process of confirming the denunciation of three agreements with the CIS," Popsoi told Radio Moldova, citing accords which underpinned the founding of the organisation in 1991.
"The denunciation of these three agreements will mean we can say that from a legal standpoint we are no longer a member. De facto, we suspended our participation for a time, but de jure we are still there."
Sandu was re-elected in 2024 and last year, her Party of Action and Solidarity retained its majority in parliamentary polls.
Over the past 150 years, Moldova has been part of the Russian empire, Greater Romania and the Soviet Union. In more than 30 years of independence its governments have been sometimes favourable to and other times opposed to close ties with Russia.
Sandu, in a radio interview last week, said that if a referendum on reunification with Romania were now held, she would vote 'yes', the first time a Moldovan leader has taken such a position.
The head of Moldova's pro-Russian opposition Socialist Party, former president Igor Dodon, denounced the decision to withdraw from the CIS as "unacceptable".
Political analyst Vitalii Andrievschii said the move to withdraw from the CIS in no way meant Moldova would end its relationship with other ex-Soviet states.
"We have to bring this process to a conclusion," he told Reuters. "We will develop ties on a bilateral basis. But there is no point in remaining in the CIS, run by Russia."
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by David Gregorio)
