Interfax News Agency, Russia
June 6 2008
MEDVEDEV HOLDS BILATERAL SUMMITS WITH CIS LEADERS
*** The informal CIS summit began with the bilateral meetings between
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and CIS leaders that had arrived
in St. Petersburg on Friday.
For the second time, the CIS summit will be held on the fields of the
St. Petersburg Economic Forum that is slated to open on June 7. This
tradition began in 2007.
Dmitry Medvedev, as Russian president, will participate in this CIS
summit for the first time. New Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will
also participate in the St. Petersburg summit for the first time.
During his meeting with Sargsyan, Medvedev invited him to visit Russia
again within the next several months.
Sargsyan thanked Medvedev and said stronger Russian-Armenian relations
were in the interests of the Armenians.
I am sure we shall meet again soon, Medvedev said.
Dmitry Medvedev and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed at a
meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday to meet in Baku in the nearest
future.
Medvedev plans to make an official visit to Azerbaijan on July 3-4 and
to Turkmenistan on July 4-5, his senior aide Sergei Prikhodko has
said.
On Friday the aide told the press about Medvedev’s bilateral talks
with his Azerbaijani and Turkmen counterparts Ilkham Aliyev and
Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow.
"Dmitry Medvedev confirmed with gratitude his agreement to make an
official visit to Azerbaijan in the nearest future, or to be more
specific on July 3-4 this year," Prikhodko said.
In addition, an agreement on the president’s official visit to
Turkmenistan was reached at the meeting with Berdymuhammedow. "The
Turkmen president confirmed his invitation to Medvedev to make an
official visit to Turkmenistan. The visit will take place on July 4-5
this year," Prikhodko said.
President Dmitry Medvedev described Uzbekistan as a key strategic
partner of Russia in Central Asia on Friday.
At a meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov in St. Petersburg,
Medvedev said he put a high value on all areas of Russian-Uzbek
cooperation, including security and law enforcement.
"I am ready to discuss various proposals for both bilateral and
multilateral integration," the Russian leader said.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he is convinced that all
issues in relations between Russia and Ukraine will be resolved.
"All issues between our peoples will be resolved," Yushchenko said at
a meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
Yushchenko said that "Russia an Ukraine are countries that form their
relationships at a strategic level."
"We have many issues that need to be addressed. Maybe the fact that we
are neighbors means difficult problems. But we will solve them," he
said.
Yushchenko said that he had invited his Russian counterpart, Dmitry
Medvedev, to pay a state visit to Ukraine in the second half of 2008
and that the two leaders had decided to have several working meetings
"within the next month or two."
The working meetings will take place either in Russia or in Ukraine,
Yushchenko told reporters.
Yushchenko said that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet will remain in
Sevastopol until 2017 as the framework agreements stipulate.
"The treaty on the presence of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol,
which implies that it [the fleet] will remain there until 2017, is a
treaty that the Ukrainian side will fulfill to the last letter," he
told the press in Stelna.
Lately many things have appeared that cloud bilateral relations, such
as the violation of the rules of deployment and transfer of army
units, the misuse of real estate and land by private companies and
individuals, Yushchenko said.
The Ukrainian president said that with Medvedev he discussed the
disputed issue of the use of navigation frequencies. An understanding
on resolving the problem had been reached, he said.
He reaffirmed that under the Ukrainian constitution no foreign
military bases can be deployed in the country. The Verkhovna Rada took
a friendly step when it approved the agreement on the fleet deployment
on Ukrainian territory until 2017, he said.
"We should continue the negotiating process calmly and with due
respect," he said.