CIS leaders to start arriving in Moscow for V-Day events Saturday

ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 6, 2005 Friday 5:22 PM Eastern Time

MOSCOW, May 7 — The CIS leaders will start arriving in Moscow on
Saturday for celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the victory
over Nazi Germany in Word War II.

Six of the 12 CIS presidents will come to Moscow on Saturday. Others
will follow on May 8.

Acting Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is expected to arrive first,
followed by Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, Uzbek President Islam
Karimov, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko, and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Turkmen President Saparamurat Niyazov and Tajik President Emomali
Rakhmonov will arrive on Sunday morning. Azerbaijani President Ilkham
Aliyev is scheduled to arrive in May 8. Moldovan President Vladimir
Voronin is also expected to come.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashavili is the only CIS leader who
will most likely not attend the celebrations.

President Vladimir Putin invited his CIS colleagues for an informal
summit on May 8 and Victory Day celebrations on May 9.

Putin said Victory Day is a “truly popular holiday for all citizens
of Russia and all CIS countries”.

“It is hard to find another such sacred and consolidating day as May
9,” he said.