The Kyrgyz president did not come to St. Petersburg because of the order
Vladimir Putin, who celebrates his 70th birthday on October 7, was congratulated by phone by the leaders of Turkey, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan and Cuba (plus former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev), and seven other leaders of the post-Soviet republics came personally with congratulations and gifts. An informal CIS summit was announced as the official reason for the meeting, but it was held in a truncated format (only Vladimir Putin spoke). And the participants spent most of the event at the festive table.
Photo: kremlin.ru
Although the meeting of the CIS leaders was held in St. Petersburg, sunny Tajikistan was engaged in the design of the event. Huge pyramids of melons and watermelons grew up next to the Konstantinovsky Palace and colorful carpets of southern fruits spread out. The Kremlin did not hide the fact that the unscheduled meeting is informal – after all, the usual CIS summit will take place no later than next week. Obviously, the main reason for the gathering was the 70th anniversary of Vladimir Putin. Mountains of fruit are part of a gift from Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon, who has not finished yetcelebrate your own birthday, which happened two days ago. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev awarded the hero of the day with the Order “Dustlik” of the highest degree, which, apart from Putin, has only Xi Jinping. And Alexander Lukashenko shared what is dear to himself. As a present, he brought a hand-assembled tractor “Belarus” with a universal seeder. Exactly the same one he works on himself. “We will sow bread, maybe something else. We will grow it and sell it to Europe. So that they don’t starve and so that they don’t steal bread in Ukraine,” the father explained his plan.
Sadyr Zhaparov refrained from visiting St. Petersburg: As it turned out, the Kyrgyz president was outraged by the presentation of the Russian Order of Merit for the Fatherland to Emomali Rahmon of the third degree with the wording “to ensure regional stability and security” (Recall that on September 14, the largest and bloodiest border conflict occurred between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). And Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan , though, came toa meeting, but did not participate in a joint photo, so as not to excite compatriots by being next to a happy Ilham Aliyev. (However, both leaders, as you know, were at talks in Prague the day before and even agreed to respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Moreover, without the mediation of Russia).
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At the round table, the hero of the day and his guests began to gather closer to dinner. Vladimir Putin let all the leaders into the hall ahead of him, not succumbing to the attempts of Emomali Rahmon and Serdar Berdimuhamedov to show eastern respect for the host. Despite the informal nature, the situation in Strelna was working: all the presidents came in suits and ties, and serious topics were also discussed. VladimirPutin suggested once again to “check the clock” on the documents to be signed next week in Astana. “We will pay priority attention to the further development of trade and investment partnership within the CIS, we will think about how to intensify joint work to increase the stability of our economies and ensure technological sovereignty,” announced the GDP agenda.
Despite the fact that after the announcement of mobilization, the CIS countries faced a new reality for themselves, namely a large influx of migrants from Russia, Vladimir Putin focused on a more familiar situation. “There are millions working in Russia – without any exaggeration, we are talking about millions – of CIS citizens who help Russia in implementing development plans, but also earn the necessary funds themselves to support their families,” he said. Thus, the dots were placed over the “I”: there are thousands there, and millions here.
Another topical issue is ensuring security in the Commonwealth space. Vladimir Putin made it clear that what is happening between Russia and Ukraine should be perceived on a par with the confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. “In addition to Ukraine, where really tragic events are taking place, conflicts arise between other close states. This, of course, requires the development of measures to resolve them,” he said.
The speeches of other leaders at the informal summit were not broadcast. And only Alexander Lukashenko expressed a desire to talk to journalists. Answering the question of the host of the program “Moscow. Kremlin.Putin”, which way out of the international situation he sees, Lukashenko said that he “did not enter there.” And therefore, “he is not going to leave there.” “Exitit’s not us who should be looking!” he stressed. Batka refused to confirm the security of the western borders of the Union State, referring to Poland’s intentions to ask the United States for nuclear weapons. However, he urged journalists not to worry about the fate of the world.”You don’t know everything! – he said significantly, – They (apparently, the collective West) have been looking for this way out for a long time.”
After the end of the informal summit, which lasted about three hours along with lunch, Putin and Lukashenko, according to the press service of the latter, continued one-on-one communication. Earlier it was reported about two apparently interrelated events: Russia allocates a 1.5 billion loan to Belarusdollars for import substitution programs, and the Ministry of Defense of Belarus, if necessary, mobilizes 500 thousand trained reservists.
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