CHISINAU, August 18. /TASS/. The Moldovan government has decided to withdraw from the Agreement on the Principles of Weapons Supplies to Border Troops, initially signed at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State on May 15, 1992.

The relevant bill to formalize the withdrawal has been submitted for approval to the country’s parliament.

"The Republic of Moldova is denouncing the agreement that establishes mechanisms of cooperation on issues related to the support of the border troops of CIS member states," the parliamentary press service said in a statement.

The Moldovan Interior Ministry, in turn, said that the agreement had become irrelevant for Chisinau soon after its signing and had not been observed.

Moldova’s parliament has denounced eight CIS agreements since the beginning of the year. Decisions on terminating another six agreements have been submitted to parliament for approval.

Chisinau’s stance toward the CIS began to shift radically after Maia Sandu won the 2020 presidential election. To date, she has not attended a single CIS summit. This year, Moldova sharpened its critical rhetoric aimed at the CIS, with Foreign Minister Nicolae Popescu launching the denunciation of a number of agreements signed under the intergovernmental organization’s aegis. However, Igor Dodon, the country’s former president and leader of the opposition Party of Socialists, stated that the denounced agreements would be restored after a change in government in Moldova. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has slammed Chisinau’s policy as hypocritical because the Moldovan authorities are in no hurry to give up the social and economic benefits they enjoy from CIS membership.