CIS leaders come to Moscow for day at the races
17:1518/07/2009
MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – The leaders of six of the 11 CIS
countries were joined in Moscow on Saturday by the presidents of the
former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for an informal
trip to the races.
The annual President’s Cup horse race has become something of an event
for CIS leaders, although Russia’s strained relations with some members
of the Commonwealth of Independent States resulted in several no-shows
by the presidents of Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and
Kyrgyzstan.
The leaders of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova
did attend, with only the Tajik president not running a horse in the
race, which was won by the stallion Monomakh from the Don stables in
Rostov, southern Russia.
"We personally invited all the presidents," Russian presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko said on Friday.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov expressed his thanks for the invitation
but said the trip would not fit into his schedule, while Turkmenistan’s
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov declined the invitation due to a relative’s
illness.
Belarus, Ukraine and Turkmenistan have had diplomatic differences with
Russia in recent months, particularly over trade in natural gas, but
Moscow saw no drama in the absences.
Despite the removal of much political significance from the event,
President Dmitry Medvedev held meetings with Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev and Tajik leader Emomali Rakhmon. Medvedev said the latter
laid the groundwork for his upcoming trip to Tajikistan.
After the race, Medvedev met jointly over lunch with the presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, to discuss the
search for a settlement to the dispute over Nagorny Karabakh, an
Armenian-populated region in Azerbaijan that has been de facto
independent since a conflict in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Russian president has become personally engaged in the search for a
resolution to the standoff, and the sides were expected to continue
discussions started by the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on Friday
about the fundamental principles of a settlement.
The Moscow gathering was also significant for the attendance of
Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh and South Ossetian President Eduard
Kokoity, marking their increasing integration by Moscow into
post-Soviet international structures.
Moscow recognized the two republics shortly after its war with Georgia
last August, when Tbilisi attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring
it back under central control. Despite diplomatic pressure,
particularly on Belarus, only Nicaragua has joined Russia in
recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.