KYIV. May 21 (Interfax) - Kyiv will revise all treaties signed as part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and withdraw from those contradicting Ukraine's national interest, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
"We are now going to thoroughly revise all international accords signed within the framework of the CIS and to withdraw from every one in which the least conflict with Ukrainian national interest will be found," Poroshenko said during a ceremony held in the Bykivnia Graves - National Historic Memorial outside Kyiv in memory of victims of political repressions on Sunday.
Speaking about a decree he signed on Saturday to enact the decision of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on the final termination of Ukraine's participation in the CIS Charter Bodies, Poroshenko emphasized that he thus closed the Ukrainian permanent mission to the organization.
"Since Belovezhskaya Pushcha [Belavezha Accords], Ukraine has regarded the CIS solely as an instrument of civilized divorce with the empire. It was Russia's fault that failed to be civilized: Moscow tried to transform the Commonwealth into a renewed empire, where everyone would be synchronizing watches with [the Clock on] the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower, as in the old Soviet times. That is why Ukraine never ratified the CIS Charter and had no plans to become a full participant in the CIS," Poroshenko said.
As reported earlier, the NSDC on May 2, 2018 upheld the proposal to stop Ukrainian representatives' participation in CIS institutions.
The NSDC ordered the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to follow established procedures to terminate certain treaties signed earlier between Ukraine and other countries.
Poroshenko said earlier that Ukraine will stop participating in CIS coordination institutions. "We cannot withdraw from an organization that Ukraine has never been a party to. Yet our participation in the activity of the CIS coordination bodies will stop," he said.
Ukraine was a signatory to the CIS founding agreement of December 8, 1991. The two other original signatories were Russia and Belarus. Yet Kyiv refused to sign the CIS Charter adopted at a CIS summit in Minsk in January 1993. Ukraine's participation in CIS events was minimized in spring 2014.
On May 19, 2018, Poroshenko said that he signed an order on the withdrawal of all Ukrainian representatives from all CIS statutory bodies.
"I have signed an order on the withdrawal of all Ukrainian representatives from all CIS statutory bodies today. We have nothing to do there; we are headed for Europe," Poroshenko said during the Day of Europe celebrations in Vinnytsia on Saturday.
The future of Ukraine lies in Europe, Poroshenko said.