On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in a regular meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), which will be held in Samarkand. The meeting is expected to be held at the international tourist complex "Great Silk Road".
According to the Russian MFA, the draft agenda includes 11 issues covering a wide range of areas of cooperation within the Commonwealth. The heads of the CIS foreign ministries are expected to exchange opinions on current international and regional issues and discuss the prospects of development of multifaceted cooperation in the CIS format.
In addition, the ministers are to summarize the results of the actions program to enhance partnership between the foreign ministries of the CIS member states and the plan of multi-level consultations within the CIS in 2022 in the context of strengthening foreign policy coordination.
It is possible that the diplomatic ministers will also discuss preparations for the next summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States to be held on October 13 in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek.
The press service of the Uzbekistan foreign ministry said that they will discuss projects of documents submitted to the Council of Commonwealth Heads of State. They also said the delegations from Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, as well as representatives of the CIS Executive Committee, will attend the meeting.
Problems of international security
The Russian foreign ministry informed, that considering the current geopolitical situation special attention should be paid to the issues of security and law and order both in the CIS countries and on the perimeter of their borders. The meeting seems very timely and important in the light of the current situation around Ukraine, NATO expansion, instability in the Transcaucasus, the situation in Transnistria and in the neighboring Afghanistan.
According to the new Russian foreign policy concept, Moscow would like the Eurasian continent to become an area of mutual trust, peace and stability. The document also says that Russia is in favor of strengthening the potential and increasing the role of the Commonwealth of Independent States on the world stage.
As part of the discussion of the international situation, the crisis around Ukraine will undoubtedly be touched upon. The Russian foreign minister will certainly inform his colleagues about the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine. As Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov previously noted, Russia does not yet see any prospects for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. Western countries continue to supply weapons to Kiev, which does not bring stability to the situation. In this connection, attention is drawn to the article published Wednesday in The Washington Post which refers to secret American documents published on the Internet and says that the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) considers it unlikely the peace talks between Moscow and Kiev will begin this year.
The security situation on the Eurasian continent has recently become more complicated also due to Finland's accession to NATO. The Russian foreign ministry stressed that as a result of the more than doubling of the line of contact between NATO and the borders of the Russian Federation, the situation in the North European region has changed dramatically.
It is quite possible that the sides may raise the problem of biosecurity. The report of the parliamentary commission investigating the US biolabs in Ukraine deserves attention. According to the document, the Pentagon's biological programs in some countries of the former Soviet Union are studying ways to spread dangerous infections.
Upcoming decisions
The meeting is expected to result in decisions in law enforcement, cultural and humanitarian and educational spheres. In particular, it is planned to grant the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia the status of the basic CIS organization for training and retraining of journalists.
The Russian diplomatic office informed that a number of documents approved by the ministers will be subsequently submitted for approval to the CIS Council of Heads of Government on June 8 or the CIS Council of Heads of State on October 13.
Partners in Central Asia
On Friday, the Russian foreign minister will also attend the sixth meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia and Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
As informed in Smolensk Square, the ministers will discuss promising areas of six-sided cooperation in political and diplomatic, trade and economic, transport, energy, cultural and humanitarian spheres as well as mechanisms for its effective implementation in line with the decisions of the first summit Russia - Central Asia, held on October 14 last year in Astana. In addition, the sides plan to exchange views and compare positions on topical issues of regional and international agendas.
Lavrov noted earlier that the Russia-Central Asia format does not replace the work of the CIS, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Lavrov stressed that Central Asia now offers more opportunities "for the development of all-continental cooperation."
Furthermore, the foreign ministry drew attention to the fact that the CIS member countries of Central Asia should show maximum caution in building cooperation with the West. According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Washington, promising some kind of ephemeral economic "support" and "dividends" to Central Asian countries, is trying to get them to agree to deploy its military infrastructure in the region.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS