Poroshenko withdraws Ukraine from CIS associate membership

Ukrainian President Poroshenko signed a May 22 decree
pulling Ukraine out of numerous international agreements signed in 1991 as part
of the Commonwealth of Independent States led by the Russian Federation. The
decision came after Poroshenko signed on May 19 a decree to withdraw Ukraine’s
associate membership in the CIS, or its complete withdrawal from its statutory
bodies. Both presidential decrees enacted decisions reached by the National
Security and Defense Council on May 2. “We will turn to parliament to cancel
the agreements on Ukraine’s participation in the CIS coordinating bodies, which
were ratified by parliament, and a series of other agreements that don’t make
any more sense for Ukraine,” the president said that day. Though among the CIS
founders, Ukraine has not been a CIS member as it chose not to ratify the CIS
charter.

Zenon Zawada: Ukraine’s remaining relations with the CIS had more symbolic value
than economic. Much of the trade between Russia and Ukraine before the military
aggression had occurred outside the CIS framework, and trade relations have
largely been severed since the start of the Donbas war in 2014. So these final
steps to sever remaining ties are largely symbolic.