The raft of measures – a response to Russia’s incorporation of Crimea into its territory following Sunday’s referendum – was announced by National Security and Defense Council chief Andrey Parubiy during a press briefing in Kiev on Wednesday.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was founded to maintain economic and security links between former Soviet republics when they became independent states in 1991. It initially included the 12 non-Baltic countries, though Georgia quit after the Ossetian conflict in 2008.

This year, Ukraine was assigned the rotating leadership of the CIS – which is more akin to the formal British Commonwealth than the fully-fledged economic partnership of the EU – but now says it will not carry out its duties.

"We have decided not only to give up the presidency, but to launch the process of quitting the union altogether," Parubiy told journalists.

Parubiy said that Ukraine will ask the United Nations to declare Crimea – which Kiev says was occupied by Russian troops following the ousting of Viktor Yanukovich – a demilitarized zone.

UN-sanctioned demilitarized zones exist between Kosovo and Serbia, North and South Korea, and in areas surrounding the Israeli regime.

Ukraine will offer those who want to leave Crimea – where 96 percent of the people voted to join Russia – an opportunity to do so.

“The cabinet has been instructed to devise an evacuation plan for those who do not want to stay in the occupied territories,” said Parubiy.

Ukraine will also introduce a visa regime for Russians, who have not only been allowed to move freely between Ukraine and their homeland since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but could do so with only their internal identification documents.

Ukrainian border guards have turned back Russian citizens in recent weeks due to ostensible concerns that they will participate in anti-government protests in the east of the country. Parubiy also claimed that Russia was contemplating a “full-scale invasion” of Russian-speaking regions.

NTJ/NJF