CHISINAU, June 14. /TASS/. Moldova should withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as soon as possible but preserve those of the CIS agreements that are useful for its economy, Moldova’s Minister of Economic Development Dumitru Alaiba said on Wednesday.

I think that our withdrawal from the CIS is inevitable. It is incompatible with the EU membership and it would be wrong and insincere to delay until the last moment - the choice of the Moldovan people is clear," he said in an interview with the N4 television channel.

At the same time, he said that the country’s government doesn’t want to withdraw from economically advantageous agreements signed within the CIS. "We have analyzed all the agreements within the CIS - we have no need in the majority of them. But we will not terminate those agreements that are beneficial for businessmen. Moldova will not leave any of the markets voluntarily. But we should quit from most of the agreements, they are inefficient," he stressed.

Moldova’s attitude to the CIS began to change in 2020 when Maia Sandu became president of the country. Since then, she has not attended any CIS summits. The anti-CIS rhetoric has only increased this year, with Foreign Minister Nicolae Popescu announcing the denunciation of a number of CIS agreements. Following this, the government cancelled several documents signed within the CIS. However, Moldovan Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vladimir Bolea said that Moldova will not denounce CIS agreements linked with the agricultural sector as it would mean problems for Moldovan farmers, who are facing a serious crisis.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has slammed Chisinau’s policy as duplicitous.

The course toward breaking ties with the CIS is criticized by the Moldovan opposition. Leader of the biggest opposition Party of Socialists and former Moldovan President Igor Dodon has repeatedly said that Moldova would not be able to survive without close cooperation with the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Union, and Russia. He noted that such a policy has plunged the republic into the most sever crisis in recent years as Moldovan exporters of farming products have lost markets and prices on gas and other Russian energy sources have skyrocketed.