Russia’s Putin says CIS political “club”, not economic union

Mediamax news agency
25 Mar 05

Yerevan, 25 March: The Russian and Armenian presidents, Vladimir Putin
and Robert Kocharyan, today said that the Commonwealth of Independent
States [CIS] should not be compared with the EU. The presidents made
this statement when answering a question from a Mediamax correspondent
at a press conference dedicated to the outcome of talks in Yerevan.

“The reason for all serious disappointments is too much expectations,”
the Russian president said. He recalled that the CIS was established
mainly to carry out “the process of the break-up of the Soviet Union”
in a more civilized way. “The CIS managed to do this,” Putin said.

“Expectations of special achievements in the area of economy, political
and military cooperation in the CIS were naturally in vain because
there could not be any,” the Russian president said. “The CIS has
never had extra tasks related to economic integration,” he stressed.

The CIS is a comfortable “club” and “platform” for CIS leaders to
have regular meetings, discuss and resolve issues of public concern,
he said.

“I believe that it is necessary to preserve the CIS. Every country
is interested in this irrespective of what domestic political forces
come to power or leave it. Problems remain and people expect them to
be resolved,” Putin said.

As for “actual economic integration”, Putin believes that more
suitable organizations for this purpose are the Eurasian Economic
Community [EAEC, comprises Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia
and Tajikistan] and a common economic space.

Armenian President Kocharyan also said that the CIS is a suitable
format for meeting counterparts and discussing serious issues.

“At every CIS summit I meet at least three of my counterparts and it
yields results,” he stressed. At the same time, Kocharyan said that
the CIS should not be compared with the EU.

“Any comparison with the EU will not be in the CIS’s favour, of
course,” the Armenian president said.

Putin noted in this regard that “the EU countries were working together
to unite, while the CIS was established for a civilized break-up”.

“Everything else is a political nonsense and gossip,” the Russian
president said.