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Voice of Russia
Sept 3 2011
CIS indispensable - Medvedev
Svetlana Kalmykova
Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union was replaced by the Commonwealth of
Independent States, which currently includes all post-Soviet nations
except the three Baltics and Georgia. Although cumbersome and poorly
governable in a number of instances and sometimes also criticized for
failing to enforce compliance with agreements within it, the new
entity has successfully taken its members through hard times and
hammered out what is now seen as an appropriate cooperation format.
President Dmitry Medvedev was speaking about this in the Tajik capital
Dushanbe on Saturday after emerging from a summit with his
counterparts in the CIS:
"We share heritage and history, including common participation in the
Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. This is a fundamental truth,
which makes for closeness in the CIS. Questioning it is absolutely
inadmissible. One more important unity factor is a common language of
international communication in the CIS, which is Russian. Promoting
Russian is a common task, which cannot be separated from developing
all other CIS languages. Our Commonwealth is also indispensable for
building all-round bilateral and multilateral cooperation among
members. The Russian Federation will never step back from this view."
The summit chamber saw a heated dispute between the President of
Armenia and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan about the future of
Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian-populated entity inside Azeri
territory. The Armenian side argued for Karabakh sovereignty, while
the Azeri one raised strong objections to this. At the same time, both
thanked Russia for constructive mediation in their dispute.
The summit agreed with Dmitry Medvedev that the CIS works as an
important integration instrument and a customs union and a single
economic area within it would only make it stronger.
The Russian President also spoke about the role of the CIS as a
monitor of electoral processes in its area:
"Leaving this role entirely to the democracy and human rights office
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would be
unwise, because this office is known for political bias and double
standards in its work. Indeed, whereas a country outside the CIS, even
a problem one, usually attracts no more than 15 OSCE monitors, a
country within the CIS attracts anything up to 500. The CIS does not
need such monitoring, because it has monitoring organizations of its
own. They are the Electoral Monitoring Mission of the CIS and the
Monitoring Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS.
Already backed by appropriate legislation, they must sharply intensify
their work in the CIS area. This will make for speedier progress
towards modern democracy and modern political systems in the CIS
states."
Medvedev thanked the current CIS chair nation Tajikistan for hosting
the Dushanbe summit. He also invited his CIS colleagues to Moscow to
attend an informal summit on the Commonwealth's 20th anniversary at
the end of this year.
Medvedev's initiatives in Dushanbe became part of the closing
declaration of the latest CIS summit.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/03/55611402.html
Sept 3 2011
CIS indispensable - Medvedev
Svetlana Kalmykova
Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union was replaced by the Commonwealth of
Independent States, which currently includes all post-Soviet nations
except the three Baltics and Georgia. Although cumbersome and poorly
governable in a number of instances and sometimes also criticized for
failing to enforce compliance with agreements within it, the new
entity has successfully taken its members through hard times and
hammered out what is now seen as an appropriate cooperation format.
President Dmitry Medvedev was speaking about this in the Tajik capital
Dushanbe on Saturday after emerging from a summit with his
counterparts in the CIS:
"We share heritage and history, including common participation in the
Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. This is a fundamental truth,
which makes for closeness in the CIS. Questioning it is absolutely
inadmissible. One more important unity factor is a common language of
international communication in the CIS, which is Russian. Promoting
Russian is a common task, which cannot be separated from developing
all other CIS languages. Our Commonwealth is also indispensable for
building all-round bilateral and multilateral cooperation among
members. The Russian Federation will never step back from this view."
The summit chamber saw a heated dispute between the President of
Armenia and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan about the future of
Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian-populated entity inside Azeri
territory. The Armenian side argued for Karabakh sovereignty, while
the Azeri one raised strong objections to this. At the same time, both
thanked Russia for constructive mediation in their dispute.
The summit agreed with Dmitry Medvedev that the CIS works as an
important integration instrument and a customs union and a single
economic area within it would only make it stronger.
The Russian President also spoke about the role of the CIS as a
monitor of electoral processes in its area:
"Leaving this role entirely to the democracy and human rights office
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would be
unwise, because this office is known for political bias and double
standards in its work. Indeed, whereas a country outside the CIS, even
a problem one, usually attracts no more than 15 OSCE monitors, a
country within the CIS attracts anything up to 500. The CIS does not
need such monitoring, because it has monitoring organizations of its
own. They are the Electoral Monitoring Mission of the CIS and the
Monitoring Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS.
Already backed by appropriate legislation, they must sharply intensify
their work in the CIS area. This will make for speedier progress
towards modern democracy and modern political systems in the CIS
states."
Medvedev thanked the current CIS chair nation Tajikistan for hosting
the Dushanbe summit. He also invited his CIS colleagues to Moscow to
attend an informal summit on the Commonwealth's 20th anniversary at
the end of this year.
Medvedev's initiatives in Dushanbe became part of the closing
declaration of the latest CIS summit.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/03/55611402.html