KREMLIN LOSES ITS GRIP ON A DYING EMPIRE
By Richard Beeston

The Times , UK
May 24 2006

Four former Soviet republics are set to abandon eastern commonwealth
and look West.

ONE of the last vestiges of the Soviet Union appeared to be crumbling
yesterday, when four former republics signalled that they were pulling
out of the organisation established to keep the Kremlin connected
with its lost empire.

At a meeting in Kiev the leaders of the pro-Western states of
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine pledged to form their own
association to promote democratic values. They also hinted that
they would leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which
was created 15 years ago as a group representing most of the former
Soviet republics.

While the CIS never fulfilled any great economic or political
function, its very existence was supposed to reflect Moscow’s
continued influence from Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and on to
Central Asia. But ties between the Kremlin and some of its former
client states have deteriorated in a wave of democratic movements
that swept pro-Western leaders into power in Georgia and Ukraine and
encouraged anti-Russian sentiment in Azerbaijan and Moldova.

The new group will be called the Organisation for Democracy and
Economic Development and will be based in Kiev. It will rival the CIS,
which is based in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it is headed
by Vladimir Rushailo, a tough former Russian Interior Minister.

Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian President, said: “Our citizens
are giving us a mandate to develop strong democratic and successful
states.” The move is seen as a huge snub to Moscow, which has not been
invited to join. It faces the prospect of being left in a CIS of eight
states, including Belarus, regarded as the last dictatorship in Europe,
Armenia, and the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The splits within the CIS ranks have
been growing in recent months. Moscow, which backed Mr Yushchenko’s
opponent in the Ukrainian elections, clashed with Ukraine this year
when it suspended gas sales, causing an energy crisis across Europe
in the middle of winter.

The Kremlin has also rowed openly with Tbilisi over Russian support
for two breakaway regions in Georgia and its reluctant withdrawal of
troops from the country. Moscow’s recent decision to ban the import
of Georgian and Moldovan wine has strained ties further.

Azerbaijan has provoked the ire of Moscow by developing close ties
with the US, and building an oil pipeline to pump crude from the
Caspian Sea to Turkey, bypassing traditional Russian control over
energy supply routes.

Moldova signalled yesterday that it may be the first country to quit
the CIS. President Voronin said that the issue would soon be debated
in parliament, where the move was likely to be approved.

Zurab Nogaideli, the Georgian Prime Minister, said that his country
was also debating the value of remaining in the CIS, and that the
question of withdrawal would come up before parliament this summer.

“Many in Georgia have been very critical of the CIS, of its
performance, of its efficiency, and we, as a government, are
accountable to the people’s concerns,” he told The Times during a
visit to London.

He said that Georgia had attempted to make the CIS more efficient
and capable of dealing with important bilateral disputes, such as
the Russian wine ban, but that the CIS was incapable of addressing
real issues.

“What is the sense in having an organisation that fails to discuss
basic issues that affect the countries concerned?”, Mr Nogaideli said.

“It seems to me that Russia itself is not interested in the CIS,
in reality. They want to keep it as an organisation, but they don’t
want it to be an effective and functional organisation. Russia only
keeps it for prestige.”