CIS secretary general admits Georgia's return to the organization

The Commonwealth of Independent States is in favor of Georgia's return to its membership and hopes that Moldova and Ukraine will not finally withdraw from the CIS, the association's secretary-general, Sergey Lebedev, told Izvestia.

“CIS heads of state have repeatedly said that the door for returning to the Commonwealth is open not only for former members, but also for other countries. That is why just recently the President of Belarus Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko expressed hope that Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia will return to interaction within the Commonwealth. I support this idea with two hands,” he noted.

Speaking about Moldova, the Secretary General noted the country's strong economic ties with other CIS members. In his opinion, the country's aspiration to join the EU does not contradict its membership in the Commonwealth. Sergei Lebedev believes that the recent constitutional referendum showed that Moldovans do not want to break ties with the CIS.

“Our economic ties are too strong. It is profitable for Moldova to stay in the Commonwealth. But the people, which is very important, are also in favor of maintaining ties with the CIS countries, first of all, with Russia and Belarus,” Lebedev said.

Reprinted from https://iz.ru/1783809