Putin tells CIS to learn from war and fend off ‘extremism’

Agence France Presse — English
May 8, 2005 Sunday 5:30 PM GMT

MOSCOW May 8 — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called Sunday on
heads of the CIS bloc of former Soviet republics to remember the
lessons of World War II and be vigilant in combating terror and
extremist threats.

“Nazism, extremism and terrorism — these are threats that all feed
from the same ideological trough… awful threats that we are simply
obliged to protect our unique peaceful commonwealth of civilizations
from,” Putin said as he opened an informal CIS summit here.

Putin was addressing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — a
Russian-led gathering of 12 ex-Soviet states — on the eve of showpiece
commemorations of the end of World War II in Europe 60 years ago.

Amid growing fissures within the CIS, he said the group should adopt
a “declaration of humanitarian cooperation,” reaffirming cooperation
in the humanitarian, cultural and scientific spheres.

Despite widespread criticism that the CIS has grown ineffective since
it was created on the ruins of the Soviet Union, there was guarded
optimism from Kyrgyzstan’s interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev —
swept to power in a March uprising — that the bloc could shape up.

“The decisions reached in recent years didn’t bring the desired
results, above all on an economic level — it’s necessary to strengthen
cooperation on the economic level,” Bakiyev told journalists.

Others dissented however, underscoring internal fissures in the loose
grouping of nations.

Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili is refusing to attend due to
the continued presence of two Russian military bases on his country’s
territory.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev also stayed away saying he could
not sit at the same table with Armenian president Robert Kocharyan
on the anniversary of an occupation of Azeri territory by neighboring
Armenia.

Beyond the CIS meeting however a flurry of other bilateral talks
were due, involving both CIS leaders and others among the nearly 60
world leaders arriving for Monday’s massive military and veterans’
parade on Red Square.

Turkmenistan’s reclusive President Saparmurat Niyazov made a rare
overseas appearance, planning talks with Ukraine and Russia’s leaders
on enhancing Turkmen natural gas supplies to Ukraine.

Moscow is on a high state of alert ahead of Monday’s wartime
commemorations, overshadowed by arguments over the Soviet rule over
the Baltic republics that resulted from the wartime victors’ carve-up
of eastern Europe.

Putin himself has said in the past the CIS had a limited lifespan.