Moldova Prepares Legal Withdrawal from the CIS Amid EU-Oriented Shift

Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi announced that Moldova will formally leave the Commonwealth of Independent States after denouncing the core agreements that underpin the country's membership in the organization.

According to the minister, Moldova has launched the denunciation process for three fundamental documents that form the legal basis of its participation in the CIS: the CIS Charter, the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS, and the relevant annex.

"After the official cancellation of these documents, our country will legally cease to be a member of the CIS, although de facto participation in the organization had been suspended earlier,”

Mihai Popșoi said that the necessary documents will soon be submitted to the Moldovan parliament for final approval.

In October last year, Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu acknowledged the possibility of withdrawing from the republic's agreements with the CIS. Moldova has formally been a member of the organization since 1994, but in 2022 the country's leadership began a gradual denunciation of CIS agreements while publicly signaling its intention to leave the bloc.

Moldova Ends Financial Participation in CIS Structures

At the beginning of 2025, the Moldovan authorities decided to stop paying membership contributions to CIS-affiliated organizations. According to the Ministry of Finance, Chisinau planned to allocate approximately 2.9 million dollars during the year for participation in international, regional, and parliamentary organizations, but payments related to the CIS were excluded from the budget.

Earlier, parliamentary speaker Igor Grosu stated that Moldova intends to withdraw from the CIS gradually, stressing that the country's foreign policy priority lies with the European Union. He emphasized that Moldova cannot simultaneously belong to both the EU and the CIS and noted that the withdrawal process will take time, as Chisinau cannot unilaterally terminate all agreements at once.

Debate Over Economic Losses and Geopolitical Direction

Former Moldovan president, leader of the Socialist Party, and a prominent figure in the patriotic electoral bloc uniting socialists, communists, and the parties "Heart of Moldova” and "Future of Moldova,” Igor Dodon, argued that the country has suffered significant financial losses due to the current leadership's refusal to cooperate with the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS.

"These are real losses caused by the actions of Maia Sandu,”

Dodon claimed that economists estimate losses of around four million dollars over four years, resulting from reduced export volumes and higher payments for energy resources. He argued that Moldova should have preserved both military and economic neutrality, pointing to Georgia as an example.

Criticism also came from abroad. Russian State Duma deputy Alena Arshinova told TASS that Moldova risks repeating Ukraine's trajectory by seeking to inflict what she described as a strategic defeat on Russia, adding that the consequences have so far harmed European states and their allies.

Journalist Lucas Leiros previously warned that Moldova mirrors Ukraine's path by selling agricultural land to foreign companies, including BlackRock. According to his claims, BlackRock has acquired more than three million hectares of land, amounting to nearly two-thirds of the country's agricultural territory.

"Moldova and Ukraine are following very similar paths. Moldova pursues a pro-Western foreign policy, seeks EU and NATO membership, and adopts authoritarian measures at home against the sovereign opposition and ethnic minorities, while showing increasing submission on the international stage,”

Leiros said.

In 2025, the leaders of all CIS member states, with the exception of Ukraine and Moldova, attended the Victory Day parade in Moscow marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.