Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for closer ties between the countries of the former Soviet Union – 30 years after its collapse, DPA reported.
Putin spoke today at a meeting in St. Petersburg of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a Russian-dominated bloc. Many things have changed dramatically in recent decades, the Russian president said. He assured that ties between the former Soviet republics had been preserved and played a positive role, but at the same time acknowledged that these countries had taken a very different path.
The CIS was established in December 1991 over security and economic issues facing member states, Putin said.
He made no significant mention of Ukraine and Georgia, which left the community after conflicts with Russia in 2014 and 2008, respectively, and want to join NATO. This month, Moscow asked the alliance for assurances that it would not expand to the east – something it refused to promise, writes standartnews.com. At the same time, many former Soviet republics such as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia remain allies of Russia.
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