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Lukashenko warns Ukraine against withdrawing from CIS

Georgia is an example of hasty exit from the CIS, Lukashenko said

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

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Kiev’s pullout from CIS to impact ordinary Ukrainians — Russian diplomat

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned Ukraine against withdrawing from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at an informal meeting of leaders of CIS member-countries on Friday.

"The Ukrainian side is currently curbing its participation in CIS activities, does not contribute to common budget, does not participate in scheduled events, recalls its permanent representative," Lukashenko said. "Along with that, we should probably not expect Ukraine’s withdrawal from CIS," he noted.

Lukashenko said he told the Ukrainian leadership that they should not haste. "If they don’t want to attend sessions, they may skip them, like today. But what would they withdraw? It will be harder to re-enter later," the Belarusian leader stressed.

Georgia is an example of hasty exit from the CIS, Lukashenko said. "I think that our friends in Ukraine realize that this is the first Georgian option - withdrawing while retaining membership in important agreements will cause a number of objections among us," he added.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry admitted that membership in CIS allows the country to monitor national interests in different regions, Lukashenko said. "I already said that Ukraine is very important for us, and we need to approach this issue somehow constructively," he noted.

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Ukraine CIS Alexander Lukashenko

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