Post-Soviet security bloc summit opens near Moscow

Post-Soviet security bloc summit opens near Moscow

17:1608/05/2010

GORKI, May 8 (RIA Novosti) – An informal summit of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization opened on Saturday at the Russian
president’s residence just outside Moscow.

It is being attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko,
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Tajik President Emomali
Rakhmon, Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirzieyev and CSTO General
Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha.

The meeting is expected to discuss current international issues, in
particular the situation in Kyrgyzstan and the new Russian-U.S.
strategic arms reduction treaty.

The CSTO is a security grouping comprising the former Soviet republics
of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, and
Tajikistan.

Kyrgyzstan will not participate in the CSTO summit as the country has
not formed its constitutional government, Russian presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko said on Friday.