Gulf Times, Qatar
May 9 2005

Make up, Putin tells ex-Soviet republics

Published: Monday, 9 May, 2005, 12:07 PM Doha Time

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin called on his counterparts
from the ex-Soviet Union yesterday to stick together, vowing their
historic bonds `can be neither torn nor destroyed’.
At talks on the eve of ceremonies to commemorate the 60th anniversary
of the Allied victory that ended World War II, Putin downplayed signs
of strains among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
`The peoples of the commonwealth countries are separated by state
borders, but our friendship and brotherly, truthfully blood ties are
without bounds,’ he said in an address to war veterans and leaders.
`They can be neither torn nor destroyed,’ he added, saying that
shared historical, cultural and humanitarian values help the CIS
states, `solve many problems in tandem’.
But his words were overshadowed by internal squabbles that have
underlined the 12-country organisation’s fundamental weakness.
Attendance by CIS leaders at the meeting was whittled down to just 10
heads of state, highlighting the increased difficulty Moscow has had
co-ordinating its diplomatic efforts in the post-Soviet area.
A spat between Russia and Georgia as well as enmity between CIS
republics Azerbaijan and Armenia has poisoned the air ahead of
today’s ceremonies on Red Square.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili – due to host US President
George W Bush today – refused to attend due to the continued presence
of two Russian military bases on his country’s soil.
In neighbouring Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said he could not
sit at the same table with Armenian President Robert Kocharian on the
anniversary of an occupation of Azeri territory by Armenian forces.
The venom between the two republics and other inter-ethnic conflicts
in the former Soviet Union have called into question how effective
the commonwealth can really be.
Russia has long sought to use the ex-Soviet club as a means to extend
its influence in Moscow’s former satellite republics, but critics say
it has remained little more than a talking-shop.
A group of five Moscow-sceptic CIS states – Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan – made headlines when they met last
month, fuelling talk of a counterweight to the Russian-led club.
And `people power’ revolutions that have swept three ex-Soviet
republics in the past 18 months, removing entrenched regimes, are
viewed as having put Moscow on the defensive in what it considers to
be its own backyard.
Amid growing fissures within the CIS, Putin said that the group
should adopt a vague `declaration of humanitarian co-operation’,
reaffirming co-operation in the humanitarian, cultural and scientific
spheres.
He said governments would, `assist the freest communication between
our peoples, they will develop new and support old and firm
historical ties’.
In a possible conciliatory sign from Kyrgyzstan, the latest ex-Soviet
state to stage an uprising, its interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev
said that the bloc could still 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 co-operation on the economic level,’ Bakiyev said.
Bakiyev and Putin agreed to discuss the possibility of Russia taking
over some of Kyrgyzstan’s major industrial sites as payment for
national debt the Central Asian nation owes its former overlord.
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 yesterday’s massive Red Square parade.
Of the former 15 Soviet republics the three Baltic states – Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania – did not join the CIS when it was created as
the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress