MINSK. March 20 (Interfax) - The chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, Sergei Lebedev, believes that Kyiv's possible decision to pull out of the CIS will negatively impact Ukraine itself.
"I think that [Ukraine's] possible withdrawal [from the CIS] will deliver a powerful blow to the country itself, the people of Ukraine and its economy," Lebedev told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.
"They [the Ukrainian authorities] will slice through live tissue. But how dare they do so when millions of our people are tied by strong bonds?" Lebedev said.
Ukraine's withdrawal from the CIS will benefit neither Ukraine nor the CIS, he added.
Hopefully, the Ukrainian authorities "will still come to their senses, will assess everything sensibly and will make a reasonable decision," he said.
The CIS Executive Committee "deeply regrets Ukraine's decision to terminate its CIS chairmanship," Lebedev said.
"We have made this decision, but in this case, in accordance with our rules, we have co-chairs - Belarus and Kazakhstan - that will assume the duties of the chairmanship," he said.
In any event, CIS countries will maintain good neighborly relations with Ukraine, he added.