The meeting place can be changed

The CIS anniversary may be moved from Minsk to Almaty

The anniversary - to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Commonwealth - the CIS summit may take place where it was finally proclaimed - in Almaty, where on December 21, 1991, the leaders of 11 Soviet Union republics gathered (with the exception of Georgia, which joined to the CIS later).

As you know, this anniversary summit was supposed to take place on October 17 in Minsk, but suddenly, a week before the appointed date, it was postponed to the end of November. The initiators of this decision were the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan, and it turned out to be an unpleasant surprise for President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who was preparing to receive distinguished guests. However, until recently it was believed that “the meeting place cannot be changed” and the summit would be held in the capital of Belarus. However, yesterday Vremya Novostey learned from Kremlin sources that another option has not been ruled out - to agree to the proposal of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to celebrate the anniversary in the southern capital of Kazakhstan.

From a formal point of view, Mr. Nazarbayev has several more arguments to insist on his proposal. Firstly, he is now the chairman of the Commonwealth. Secondly, it was he who was instructed at the previous CIS summit to prepare proposals for the “salvation” of the CIS and to develop measures for its more efficient functioning. And finally, thirdly, Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as the presidents of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan Islam Karimov and Saparmurat Niyazov, are the only ones who continue to rule their countries all these 15 years from the moment they signed the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991 year on the establishment of the CIS. It was Mr. Nazarbayev who, with respect, but not without a bit of sarcasm, was called all these years the main “integrator” in the post-Soviet space. True, most of his initiatives were never implemented, which once gave him a reason to declare the “death of the CIS.” But everyone in the post-Soviet space knows that the idea of ​​the Eurasian Union was proposed by Nursultan Nazarbayev more than ten years ago, and Eurasian movements were created and function in Russia.

So far, the proposal to move the anniversary summit of the CIS from Minsk to Alma-Ata has not been publicly announced at the official level in any of the capitals of the Commonwealth. Moreover, according to Vremya Novostei, both in the Russian Foreign Ministry and in the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, no one is preparing for such a change of capitals. However, the newspaper's informed sources in these departments claim that this does not mean anything. “If a new command is given from above, we will carry it out,” diplomats use the same words to describe the situation.

Nevertheless, Vremya Novostey’s sources believe that Moscow is unlikely to publicly initiate such a “squiggle” with the summit. There may be several reasons for this. Despite all the external prosperity in relations between Moscow and Astana, the rivalry between Russia and the growing economic and financial power of Kazakhstan is becoming one of the noticeable counterpoints in the Commonwealth space. Conflicts of interest between the two countries are increasing. Therefore, it seems that it is more logical for Moscow to kindly give Astana the honor of being blamed for the final collapse of the Commonwealth. Namely, such accusations are already being heard from Minsk. If Alexander Lukashenko did not hide his indignation the other day that the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan postponed the CIS summit without his knowledge, trying to bury the Commonwealth, then what words will he find to brand the one who proposes to “steal” the summit itself from him? ?

Arkady DUBNOV