First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko spoke about what he saw as drawbacks of the CIS live on the air of the Ukrainian pro-opposition NTN TV on 14 May, according to the BBC Monitoring Service. He, however, did not say whether Ukraine is going to quit the CIS, noting that Ukraine is formally not a member of it anyway.
He also refused to comment on Georgia`s reported intention to quit the CIS. The CIS has been unreformed, according to Ohryzko, and "no single economic project has been implemented in the CIS".
Ohryzko listed the following drawbacks of the CIS: [1] the free-trade agreements of 1994 have not been ratified by Russia; [2] last year`s reform proposals from Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko have been ignored; [3] there`s been no proper border demarcation between CIS countries, so the borders are transparent to illegal migration and contraband; [4] bulging CIS bureaucracy gets a disproportionate share of funds.
Ohryzko denied a suggestion by the presenter that relations with Russia recently worsened. He said the relations have not got worse, rather there`s been more transparency.
The news was monitored by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service, Morgan Williams, Editor.
