MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. The Moldovan government is bent on curtailing the country’s participation in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with official Chisinau discontinuing attendance at meetings of CIS bodies and no longer making budgetary contributions to the intergovernmental organization, a senior Russian diplomat told TASS.

"Today, the Moldovan authorities have indeed adopted a course toward winding down their [involvement] in the CIS. They have withdrawn from participating in meetings of its key bodies, initiated the procedure for withdrawing from the Interparliamentary Assembly, refused to implement the 'Cultural Capital of the Commonwealth' program in Comrat, and are not paying contributions to the CIS budget. They have also initiated the process of denouncing several agreements signed within the [CIS] framework," Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, told TASS.

At the same time, according to the senior diplomat, the Moldovan government is in no hurry to renounce the social and economic benefits it accrues from CIS membership. "We are talking primarily about the visa-free regime, the free trade zone, and labor, social and other preferences for migrant workers. Let's not forget that nearly one-quarter of Moldova's trade turnover still goes to the CIS countries, and the Moldovan diaspora in Russia alone, according to various estimates, numbers up to half a million people," he said.

Polishchuk pointed out that statements by Chisinau about "the inefficiency of the CIS" have been issued more frequently since Moldova obtained the status of candidate for European Union membership. "There is a direct pattern. It was the same with Ukraine, which some time ago was also presented with an either/or choice by the European Union; that is, either [they are] with the EU, or with Russia. Everybody knows how it ended. It was this flawed logic that led to the unconstitutional coup d'etat and all the events that followed," he added.

"Objectively speaking, CIS membership and the development of cooperation under its [umbrella] is in the interests of Moldova itself and its citizens. We hope that the Moldovan government really understands this, but it seems that it is forced to follow the instructions handed down in Brussels to EU candidate countries. By the way, far from all candidates blindly follow this course and refuse to cooperate with Russia and the CIS, when it is profitable for them [to continue ties with the CIS]," Polishchuk concluded.