Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in a meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Dushanbe on Friday. More than six months have passed since the last such event in Minsk, and there is a lot to discuss.
According to the Russian MFA, the sides will exchange opinions on current regional and international issues as well as promising areas of development of multifaceted cooperation within the Commonwealth. "Particular attention will be paid to international security issues and the strengthening of ties in the cultural and humanitarian and scientific spheres," they added in Smolensk Square.
Preparations for a new meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State scheduled for October 14, 2022, in the capital of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, will also be discussed.
A pressing issue: Ukraine
There is no doubt that the meeting will touch upon the situation in Ukraine. Obviously, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission will inform his colleagues about the course of the special Russian military operation, which began in response to the appeal for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Moscow's plans do not include occupation of Ukrainian territories; the goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. Amid claims that the operation has allegedly dragged on, the Kremlin assures that it is proceeding according to plan.
The negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine continues, but, as Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted, "very sluggish and inconclusive." Moscow sent Kiev a draft document on settling the relations back on April 15 but has not received any reaction so far. At the same time, Moscow stressed that Russia was ready for contacts on the Ukrainian crisis at any level, but they must be well-prepared and substantive.
Against the background of the slow negotiation process, Western countries continue pumping Ukraine with various weapons, which only aggravates the situation and prevents its settlement.
In addition, Poland's intentions cloud the situation. Thus, according to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Washington and Warsaw are working on plans to establish Polish control over "their historical possessions" in Ukraine.
In addition, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has drawn attention to NATO exercises in Poland, as well as an increased military grouping in that country.
The Kiev trail: Transnistria
The situation is destabilized in Transnistria, where a series of terrorist attacks took place in late April. Special security measures have been extended there until May 25.
A source in Tiraspol government circles told TASS that traces of the shelling of the building of the Ministry of State Security of the unrecognized Transnistrian region irrefutably lead to Ukraine.
Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky, a Valdai Club expert and senior fellow at the IMEMO RAS, told TASS that the scale of the April escalation of the situation in Transnistria is exaggerated, but the risk of an explosive situation that could be provoked by Kiev remains. A serious aggravation, according to him, would benefit the Ukrainian side, which "would now be interested in opening another front.
The problem of biosafety: the West's Ukrainian testing grounds
Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolay Patrushev says the US and their satellites after the collapse of the Soviet Union deployed a network of biolaboratories in the former Soviet republics - in Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Armenia, where, "under cover of scientific research, they conduct military-biological activities". According to him, outbreaks of infections in several countries may be directly linked to the activities of these laboratories.
At the same time, the Azerbaijani State Security Service stated that there are no biolaboratories or scientific centers for biological weapons research financed by third countries in the country.
Earlier Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said that the Russian special military operation in Ukraine uncovered evidence of the Kiev regime's emergency sweep of the US Defense Department-funded military-biological program being implemented in Ukraine. According to him, information was received from employees of Ukrainian biolaboratories about urgent destruction of particularly dangerous pathogens: pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases on February 24.
Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces' radiation, chemical and biological defense forces, stressed that Ukraine is a testing ground for the West to develop components of biological weapons and test new samples of pharmaceuticals.
Baku and Yerevan: the path to a peace treaty
On the eve of the CIS Ministerial Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held bilateral and then trilateral meetings with his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia Ceyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan.
The ministers discussed the implementation of decisions taken by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia within the framework of trilateral statements. Lavrov stressed that the Russian side is interested in turning the South Caucasus into a zone of peace, sustainable development and prosperity.
In early April, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and EU Council President Charles Michel at a meeting in Brussels instructed the foreign ministers to begin preparations for negotiations on a peace agreement.
Baku is looking at the process with great hope and believes that there is no time to lose. Aliyev stated that substantive negotiations with Armenia to conclude a peace treaty should start soon. According to him, Baku proposed "a proposal consisting of five specific principles (for normalization of relations with Armenia - TASS), and Armenia accepted these five principles".
Protests against the government policies have been going on in Armenia since mid-April and mass protests since early May. The opposition demands the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, claiming that he intends to reconsider Yerevan's position on the status of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Moscow stressed that it was determined to facilitate the conclusion of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku.
May 10 Bayramov said that Azerbaijan and Armenia had agreed on the composition of a commission to delimit the border between the two countries. It was noted that progress on this issue is important.
The Afghan factor: on the way to stabilization
The problems of Afghanistan, which borders Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, will certainly not go unnoticed. As noted, the terrorist threat still remains. Tajikistan recently reported about a clash between the Taliban (banned in Russia) and IS (the Islamic State terrorist group banned in Russia) on the border of Afghanistan.
After a meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbors, Russia notes the formation of a regional consensus on this country. It was emphasized that the Russian Federation and its partners have common goals for a "stable, prosperous Afghanistan," which would be free from the threat of terrorism and drug trafficking".
Lavrov pointed out that after the US and NATO occupation troops' hasty withdrawal from Kabul in August last year and the subsequent coming to power of the Taliban (banned in Russia) the military-political situation in Afghanistan became relatively stable. However, the head of Russia's MFA said that the process of establishing an inclusive government in Afghanistan should be sped up.
However, the Pentagon's statements cause concern. Mark Milley, the chairman of the US Army Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that the United States would be ready to attack Afghanistan if a threat to national security was detected there. Milley said Washington remains committed to its previous goal of "ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a platform from which terrorists strike the continental United States."
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS