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Ukraine asks CIS executive committee to suspend its CIS presidency

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the CIS Ivan Bunechko said no instructions had been made to launch the procedure of Ukraine’s withdrawal from the CIS

© AP Photo/Sergei Grits

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MINSK, March 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine has filed a note to the CIS Executive Committee to suspend the country’s presidency in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the CIS Ivan Bunechko told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

“A note was officially filed to the CIS Executive Committee. We are translating the document into Russian, the document will be submitted to the leadership of the CIS Executive Committee and announced at a meeting of the council of permanent representatives,” the Ukrainian permanent representative said.

The council of permanent representatives of the CIS states will begin at 11am local time (GMT+3) the meeting at the Minsk head office. Bunechko also noted that no instructions had been made to launch the procedure of Ukraine’s withdrawal from the CIS.

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“Ukraine decided not to continue the country’s CIS presidency,” director of the information policy department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Yevgen Perebyinis told a media briefing on March 19. “Ukraine retains the right to consider whether it is expedient for the country to continue its participation in CIS activities,” Perebyinis added. Kiev decided “not only to terminate the country’s CIS presidency, but also launch the process of withdrawal from the CIS,” Acting Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Andriy Parubiy said on the same day. “The decision was taken at a meeting of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council,” Parubiy said.

CIS presidency may be passed to Belarus as a country that presided in 2013 or Kazakhstan which is to take over CIS presidency in 2015.

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