What Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State

A meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State took place in Kyrgyzstan. The meeting was first held in a narrow format with the participation of only the leaders of the countries. Then the summit was held in an expanded format with members of delegations. In 2023, Kyrgyzstan presided over the CIS, next year Russia will chair the commonwealth.

In addition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, the summit was attended by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan did not come to Bishkek.

Speaking at the summit in a limited format, where only heads of state were present, Putin said that interaction within the CIS is developing against the backdrop of a difficult geopolitical situation. At the same time, the CIS remains a “reliable and popular” format of cooperation, and relations are developing on the principles of partnership, mutual benefit and consideration of each other’s interests, Putin said.

After this, the president criticized “countries that may still be part of the CIS today, [но] don’t work in this format.” Among them, he named Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. The latter, according to him, “practically loses its identity” due to the choice of the current leadership of Moldova, who call themselves Romanians – and in his opinion, no one can stop this except the people of the country.

Then Putin returned to the advantages of working in the CIS format. In his opinion, despite sanctions pressure and threats to apply secondary sanctions against those who continue to work with Russia and Belarus, economic ties between the CIS countries are expanding. Here he noted that the situation with the Russian economy is stable, and GDP growth in 2023 will be about 3%.

He emphasized that the structure of the Russian economy is now changing, and such changes have not happened for a long time. In the structure of GDP growth, 3% remains in the oil and gas sector, and 43% falls on industrial production, Putin said: “That is, what we used to buy in large quantities abroad is not all, of course, it is impossible to do everything in one blow.” “But a lot of things are already starting to be produced in the Russian Federation.”

Further, the Russian President said that the overall GDP growth of the CIS countries amounted to 2.2% in January-June 2023. At the same time, Putin noted that growth in the eurozone would be 0.5%: “But the main industrialized economies of the European Union have gone into minus. <…> We don’t rejoice at this, we don’t applaud, we don’t mock – no, but we simply state.”

Putin stressed that it is necessary to develop coordinated approaches on “urgent global and regional issues,” including at the UN. “We understand perfectly well what to be honest here, we see that this applies not only to the CIS, this applies to all of Russia’s partners – they are trying to put pressure on everyone, not to say to scare, intimidate, or command someone. The leaders of the CIS countries, we understand this very well, are still people who are primarily guided by national interests,” Putin said.

But, he said, the “more brutal the attempt to put pressure on someone, the less success those who try to do this achieve.” He also said that it is necessary to continue cooperation with friendly countries and international organizations, and Russia will contribute to this, given that in 2024 it will chair not only the CIS, but also the BRICS. After this, Putin briefly discussed cooperation between law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism and other areas.

The Russian President also spoke about the main regional conflicts in the world. Putin said that the United States is to blame for the tragedy that Israelis and Palestinians are now experiencing, since they tried to monopolize the Middle East settlement, but did not look for compromises that would be acceptable to Israel and Palestine. “The one-sided line of the Americans for many years has led the situation further and further into a dead end. The Middle East Quartet of international mediators was not used. Under far-fetched pretexts, the United States actually blocked this format, which was unique and, by the way, had a mandate approved by the relevant UN resolution,” Putin said.

The main task now is to stop the bloodshed, cease fire and stabilize the situation, he said. According to Putin, Russia is ready to coordinate with all “constructively minded partners.” He stressed that the conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be resolved through negotiations.

“Their goal should be the implementation of the UN two-state formula, which involves the creation of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, existing in peace and security with Israel. Which, of course – we also see this – was subjected to an attack unprecedented in its cruelty. And, of course, he has the right to protection, to ensure his peaceful existence,” Putin said, once again emphasizing that there is no alternative to negotiations.

At the council, Putin also touched upon the topic of the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh. According to him, Russia is ready to facilitate the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, offering to hold negotiations in Moscow. In recent years, Russia has made efforts to prevent the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, he said: “All this time, painstaking work has been carried out in the Russia-Azerbaijan-Armenia trilateral format aimed at normalizing relations between the two capitals – Baku and Yerevan.”

Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan did not come to the summit in Bishkek. And Putin met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the eve of the summit in Kyrgyzstan. The two of them discussed the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh in a closed format.

Decisions of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS

At an extended meeting of the council, Putin spoke about work priorities for 2024, when Russia will chair the CIS. According to him, Russia is determined to strengthen the authority of the commonwealth as an integration association; a chairmanship concept and an action plan in the economic, law enforcement, cultural, humanitarian and other spheres have been prepared.

The main focus will be on economic integration. In the military and law enforcement spheres, the task will be to improve mechanisms for countering new and traditional challenges and strengthening the external borders of the CIS, he noted. In total, the Russian chairmanship program will include 150 events, including the next summit of CIS heads of state on October 8, 2024 in Moscow.

During the summit, a statement was adopted by the foreign ministers of the CIS states regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It was signed by the foreign ministers of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan did not put their signatures.

In it, the foreign ministers condemned the manifestations of extremism, terrorism and the taking of civilians hostage and the indiscriminate use of force during military operations. They called for a cessation of hostilities and the opening of humanitarian corridors, and also stated the importance of diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

As a result of the meeting, decisions were signed on the chairmanship of the CIS in 2024 and the holding of the next meeting on October 8, 2024 in Moscow, and an agreement on the establishment of the International Organization for the Russian Language, which will be located in Sochi.

Also among the documents there is a decision on the statement of the heads of state of the CIS on international relations in a multipolar world, on the protection of the human right to freedom of religion, on the support and promotion of the Russian language as a language of interethnic communication, a decision on observer status in the CIS, agreements on the formation of the International Risk Assessment Center legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism and the creation of the Coordination Council of the CIS member states in the field of forensic activities, the decision on the interstate program of joint measures to combat crime for 2024–2028. and etc.