Poroshenko: Ukraine to withdraw from treaties that do not comply with its national interests
Kyiv will conduct an audit of all international treaties concluded with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and will withdraw from those that do not correspond to Ukraine’s national interests, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said, as reported by his press service. Poroshenko spoke during the ceremony commemorating the victims of political repression on the territory of the National Historic Memorial "Bykivnia Graves" near Kyiv on Sunday, May 20.
"Currently we are carefully reviewing all international agreements concluded within the framework of the CIS, and we will withdraw from those in which even the smallest discrepancy with Ukrainian national interests will be found," Poroshenko said.
The President signed a decree the day before that enforces the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to end the participation of Ukraine in the work of the CIS statutory bodies. While speaking about the decree, he stressed that in this way, he closed the permanent representation of Ukraine in this organization.
"Ukraine, beginning from the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, viewed the CIS exclusively as an instrument of a civilized divorce from the empire. It turned out not be civilized thanks to Russia. Moscow sought to transform the Commonwealth into an updated empire, where everyone was the same as in old Soviet times, would synchronize their watches with the ones on the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower. Therefore, Ukraine did not ratify the CIS Charter and was not going to become a full-fledged member of the CIS," Poroshenko stressed.
The CIS Executive Committee said that it had not received yet notifications about the withdrawal of representatives of Ukraine.