Ukraine's withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will take about a year, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza reports.
"In practice, this decision by the Ukrainian authorities is limited to the closure of the mission at the CIS headquarters in Minsk and the recall of the two diplomats working there," Zakharova said, adding that this process will take some time.
"President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko's statement was another indicative action, voiced to impress his Western sponsors," Zakharova said, noting that ordinary citizens of Ukraine will suffer from such "politicized actions of Kiev."
Head of the Institute of Caspian Cooperation Sergey Mikheyev, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the effect of Ukraine's withdrawal from the CIS will depend on how it will be implemented. "Formally, Ukraine has never been part of the CIS, because the Verkhovna Rada has not ratified the documents signed by Kiev in 1992. That is, Ukraine has fulfilled those agreements on the CIS that were beneficial to it, and did not comply with unprofitable," he said in the first place.
"As for the exit, Ukraine has not taken any practical part in the work of the CIS bodies since 2014. For example, Georgia chose to remain in a number of agreements and argued to get a special regime. I think Ukraine will engage in the same thing, that is, loudly declare about withdrawing from the CIS, trying to keep the most profitable agreements. And in my opinion, it would be right for us to demand the breaking of all the existing agreements if they want to walk out from the Commonwealth," Sergey Mikheev emphasized.
"If we assume Ukraine's full withdrawal from all agreements with the CIS, it will be another blow to the Ukrainian economy and Ukrainian citizens, since the Commonwealth agreements include free movement of citizens, a visa-free regime, and much more," the political scientist concluded.
The deputy director of the Institute of the CIS, Vladimir Zharikhin, in turn, noted that little will change for the CIS after Ukraine's withdrawal from it. "Ukraine takes a unique position - it seems to be in the CIS, but it seems to be not. On the one hand, it is a co-founder of the Commonwealth, on the other hand, it did not ratify the charter and had the status of an allied member. But Ukraine may face serious problems due to the fact that many of the agreements within the CIS have been concluded on a collective basis, which means that they will have to be renewed on an individual basis. For example, an agreement on visa-free regime should be concluded anew with each CIS country," he recalled.
"I think that in the case of Russia there can be serious difficulties. Even if the Ukrainian leadership expresses a desire to establish a visa-free regime with the Russian Federation, it does nor mean that the Verkhovna Rada will ratify it. It's not even clear that Russia will agree to re-enter into such a treaty. Other problems related to contracts are also possible. Previously, people lived throughout the Soviet Union, including in Ukraine, and for them, as well as for their descendants, the breakdown of agreements between Ukraine and the CIS is fraught with very serious consequences. But all previous decisions related to the separation from Russia were taken to the detriment of Ukrainian citizens by Kiev," Vladimir Zharikhin concluded.
