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Defunct CIS

Ukraine and Georgia Mull Leaving post-Soviet Club

Just as Russia is trying to reassert its regional dominance, both Ukraine and Georgia have said they are considering leaving the post-Soviet group the Commonwealth of Independent States. Moscow has warned there may be financial repercussions.

The Russian empire continues to fall apart: Ukraine and Georgia have both announced their desire to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the body of nations that succeeded the disintegrating Soviet Union in 1991. Last week the Georgian government said it wanted to withdraw, and now has Ukraine announced it was also reconsidering membership.

"The question arises: What do we need this structure for?" said Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister, Volodymyr Ohryzko. "The CIS is turning into a club whose members talk instead of solving problems."

Russia has warned both countries that it might cancel "benefits which these states enjoy within the CIS," if they secede, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. Ukraine and Georgia have long received cut-rate oil and natural gas from Moscow as a perk of remaining in the post-Soviet club. But they've also declared independence from Moscow's political influence after democratic revolutions in 2003 and 2004 and the Kremlin has retaliated with tough economic measures.

Russia's state-run gas monopoly, Gazprom, cut off supplies to Ukraine on January 1, 2006, when leaders in Kiev resisted a sudden and drastic price increase. Moscow has also boycotted Georgian mineral water and wine for "health reasons," according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, although both products were considered healthy enough in the Soviet Union. "This decision in Moscow is political," the paper quoted Georgian Prime Minister Surab Nogaideli as saying at the time. Georgian leaders believe the boycotts have nothing to do with the quality of the products and everything to do with Georgia's tack toward the West since its "Rose Revolution" in 2003.

Ukraine and Georgia now want to review what exactly the "benefits" of membership are. The Commonwealth of Independent States replaced the Soviet Union as an economic and organizational framework for eastern-bloc nations in 1991. Lithuania and Latvia have already left to join the European Union. Ukraine has moved closer to Europe economically -- it now sells 35% of its exports to EU countries -- and Washington supports any westward lurch of the satellite states of its former Cold-War enemy. US Vice President Dick Cheney met with leaders of Ukraine, Georgia, and other eastern nations in Lithuania on May 4 to discuss their relationships with Russia and the West.

The Kremlin, naturally, resents what it thinks of as western meddling in its own backyard. CIS leaders warn that the Ukrainian and Georgian economies are both still oriented towards Russia. “Quitting the CIS would be a huge mistake for Ukraine,” said Vadim Gustov, chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s committee on CIS, according to Russia Profile magazine. “No European politician has so far set even a vague timetable for Ukraine’s integration into the EU. The market for Ukrainian goods is in Russia.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Tuesday that she opposed any expansion of the EU beyond the nations already in line for membership -- which would include Romania and Bulgaria, but not CIS states like Ukraine.

msm/upi/ap