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A COUNCIL WITHOUT MINISTERS
Nikolay Filchenko and Petr
Kommersant, Russia
Oct 17 2006
// The Countries of the Commonwealth Have Forgotten about the CIS
A summit of the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the CIS
Countries (SMID CIS) took place yesterday in Minsk. The meeting
demonstrated that interest in the organization in the ex-Soviet
world has dwindled to almost nothing: only three out of 12 ministers
bothered to attend. The basic reasons for the current apathy are
discord between Russia and Kazakhstan on the issue of reform in the
CIS and fears raised by the Kremlin's anti-Georgian campaign.
The SMID CIS summit in Minsk was opened by Belorussian President
Alexander Luakshenko, who reminded the assembled delegates that this
year marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). The meeting, however, had nothing approaching
a holiday tone. Attendance was dismal: out of 12 foreign affairs
ministers in the CIS countries, only Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov, who served as chairman, and his Kazakh colleague Kasymzhomart
Tokayev flew to Minsk to attend the meeting. The third minister in
attendance was Belorussian Foreign Minister Sergey Martynov, who
represented the host country. The foreign affairs ministers of the
other nine CIS republics passed up the summit for various reasons
and sent their deputies instead.
The unprecedented indifference among the ex-Soviet republics to the
jubilee event is tied to the similarly unprecedented crisis in which
the CIS finds itself. From an official point of view, the massive
under-attendance by the ministers appears to be completely logical.
Until this year, the SMID CIS summits have served as preliminaries for
the main event: the presidential forum. The ministers usually gather a
day early to put the finishing touches on documents to be presented to
the leaders of the CIS countries for signatures the next day. However,
this time the schedule was different: the summit of presidents,
which had originally been scheduled for today, was cancelled. This
news put a damper on interest in the meeting of the ministers.
The majority of the foreign affairs ministers of the Commonwealth
countries confirmed to Kommersant that no important questions were
on the agenda for the meeting in Minsk and that they preferred to
concentrate on their own affairs. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's
press service told Kommersant that Foreign Affairs Minister Boris
Tarasyuk did not go to Minsk because he was overwhelmed with work
at home. "You take a look at what's going on in our country," said
Foreign Affairs Ministry press secretary Andrey Deshchitsa by way of
explanation. Moldovan Foreign Affairs Minister Andrey Stratan said
that he is attending important meetings in Kishinev and declined to
discuss the Minsk meeting. The foreign affairs ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan preferred to hold two-sided talks on the question of
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry believes that the general
apathy within the Commonwealth may be linked to a lack of a common
opinion within the organization on the question of reform in the
CIS countries. "Interest in inter-CIS affairs may be dampened by the
fact that we have not decisively defined what reform should look like
within the CIS," said a Kommersant source within the Russian Foreign
Ministry. It is clear that these differences of opinion are so great
that they prevented the CIS presidents from meeting in Minsk for the
previously-scheduled period of time.
There have also recently been increasingly fierce arguments surrounding
reforms in the CIS, where the role of chief reformer is claimed by
both Russia and Kazakhstan. At an unofficial summit of CIS leaders in
July of this year, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who heads the
Council of CIS Heads of State, proposed his idea for an overhaul of the
Commonwealth. In Mr. Nazarbayev's opinion, the CIS should concentrate
on five areas of cooperation: working out an agreement on migration
policies, developing unified transport channels, collaboration in
scientific-educational and in cultural-humanitarian spheres, and
cooperation in the struggle against trans-border crime. Additionally,
Kazakhstan has proposed that the CIS should include only those
countries that are prepared to fully implement the decisions taken by
the Commonwealth. However, Astana's proposals were met with no overt
enthusiasm in Moscow. The fact of the matter is that Russia desires
to play the major role in reforming the CIS and hopes to do so in a
way that shores up its own elevated position within the organization.
Thus, when the Kazakh side suggested to those in attendance at the
summit yesterday that they consider Mr. Nazarbayev's proposal, the
initiative was met with criticism. "If someone, under the guise of
reforms, wants to ruin the CIS, then we do not intend to participate
in the process. Belarus wants no part of the destructive tendencies
in the Commonwealth and earnestly entreats the other states to follow
its example," said Mr. Lukashenko. "If we want to go forth to meet
our enemy, then we should go forward with these so-called reforms.
And that will be the greatest gift we can give to our foes, who sleep
and see wealth in the ex-Soviet world."
Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov supported the
Belorussian leader, although he was more restrained in his comments.
"The reforms were conceived not for the sake of reform. Reforms in
the CIS should not lead to an automatic decrease in the member states
of the Commonwealth," he concluded.
The Russian minister also stated that the cancelled summit of
presidents will take place in November on a date that is still being
decided. But the question of reforms is not likely to be decided at
that meeting either. The heads of state of the CIS countries will
concentrate on discussing topics such as the struggle against illegal
immigration and money laundering.
However, the reason for general skepticism in relation to the CIS
lies not only in disagreements on the question of reform within the
organization. In essence, the recent events that took place between
Russia and Georgia have pushed the CIS to the brink of extinction.
The majority of the ex-Soviet states noted that Russia has
imposed unprecedented sanctions against a CIS member country. The
Russian-Georgian standoff is forcing the rest of the Commonwealth
countries to seriously doubt the organization's capacity for survival,
as well as its effectiveness.
The Kremlin's anti-Georgian stance has demonstrated to Russia's
partners in the CIS the dangers that unfriendly relations with
Moscow can be fraught with and has forced them to think about who
may become the next victim of Russian rage. However, the scandal in
the relations between Moscow and Tbilisi has also demonstrated that
all of the relations between Moscow and the separate members of the
CIS are strictly two-sided. Problems are decided only in the Kremlin,
and meetings and summits play only a decorative role.
Nikolay Filchenko and Petr
Kommersant, Russia
Oct 17 2006
// The Countries of the Commonwealth Have Forgotten about the CIS
A summit of the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the CIS
Countries (SMID CIS) took place yesterday in Minsk. The meeting
demonstrated that interest in the organization in the ex-Soviet
world has dwindled to almost nothing: only three out of 12 ministers
bothered to attend. The basic reasons for the current apathy are
discord between Russia and Kazakhstan on the issue of reform in the
CIS and fears raised by the Kremlin's anti-Georgian campaign.
The SMID CIS summit in Minsk was opened by Belorussian President
Alexander Luakshenko, who reminded the assembled delegates that this
year marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). The meeting, however, had nothing approaching
a holiday tone. Attendance was dismal: out of 12 foreign affairs
ministers in the CIS countries, only Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov, who served as chairman, and his Kazakh colleague Kasymzhomart
Tokayev flew to Minsk to attend the meeting. The third minister in
attendance was Belorussian Foreign Minister Sergey Martynov, who
represented the host country. The foreign affairs ministers of the
other nine CIS republics passed up the summit for various reasons
and sent their deputies instead.
The unprecedented indifference among the ex-Soviet republics to the
jubilee event is tied to the similarly unprecedented crisis in which
the CIS finds itself. From an official point of view, the massive
under-attendance by the ministers appears to be completely logical.
Until this year, the SMID CIS summits have served as preliminaries for
the main event: the presidential forum. The ministers usually gather a
day early to put the finishing touches on documents to be presented to
the leaders of the CIS countries for signatures the next day. However,
this time the schedule was different: the summit of presidents,
which had originally been scheduled for today, was cancelled. This
news put a damper on interest in the meeting of the ministers.
The majority of the foreign affairs ministers of the Commonwealth
countries confirmed to Kommersant that no important questions were
on the agenda for the meeting in Minsk and that they preferred to
concentrate on their own affairs. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's
press service told Kommersant that Foreign Affairs Minister Boris
Tarasyuk did not go to Minsk because he was overwhelmed with work
at home. "You take a look at what's going on in our country," said
Foreign Affairs Ministry press secretary Andrey Deshchitsa by way of
explanation. Moldovan Foreign Affairs Minister Andrey Stratan said
that he is attending important meetings in Kishinev and declined to
discuss the Minsk meeting. The foreign affairs ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan preferred to hold two-sided talks on the question of
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry believes that the general
apathy within the Commonwealth may be linked to a lack of a common
opinion within the organization on the question of reform in the
CIS countries. "Interest in inter-CIS affairs may be dampened by the
fact that we have not decisively defined what reform should look like
within the CIS," said a Kommersant source within the Russian Foreign
Ministry. It is clear that these differences of opinion are so great
that they prevented the CIS presidents from meeting in Minsk for the
previously-scheduled period of time.
There have also recently been increasingly fierce arguments surrounding
reforms in the CIS, where the role of chief reformer is claimed by
both Russia and Kazakhstan. At an unofficial summit of CIS leaders in
July of this year, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who heads the
Council of CIS Heads of State, proposed his idea for an overhaul of the
Commonwealth. In Mr. Nazarbayev's opinion, the CIS should concentrate
on five areas of cooperation: working out an agreement on migration
policies, developing unified transport channels, collaboration in
scientific-educational and in cultural-humanitarian spheres, and
cooperation in the struggle against trans-border crime. Additionally,
Kazakhstan has proposed that the CIS should include only those
countries that are prepared to fully implement the decisions taken by
the Commonwealth. However, Astana's proposals were met with no overt
enthusiasm in Moscow. The fact of the matter is that Russia desires
to play the major role in reforming the CIS and hopes to do so in a
way that shores up its own elevated position within the organization.
Thus, when the Kazakh side suggested to those in attendance at the
summit yesterday that they consider Mr. Nazarbayev's proposal, the
initiative was met with criticism. "If someone, under the guise of
reforms, wants to ruin the CIS, then we do not intend to participate
in the process. Belarus wants no part of the destructive tendencies
in the Commonwealth and earnestly entreats the other states to follow
its example," said Mr. Lukashenko. "If we want to go forth to meet
our enemy, then we should go forward with these so-called reforms.
And that will be the greatest gift we can give to our foes, who sleep
and see wealth in the ex-Soviet world."
Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov supported the
Belorussian leader, although he was more restrained in his comments.
"The reforms were conceived not for the sake of reform. Reforms in
the CIS should not lead to an automatic decrease in the member states
of the Commonwealth," he concluded.
The Russian minister also stated that the cancelled summit of
presidents will take place in November on a date that is still being
decided. But the question of reforms is not likely to be decided at
that meeting either. The heads of state of the CIS countries will
concentrate on discussing topics such as the struggle against illegal
immigration and money laundering.
However, the reason for general skepticism in relation to the CIS
lies not only in disagreements on the question of reform within the
organization. In essence, the recent events that took place between
Russia and Georgia have pushed the CIS to the brink of extinction.
The majority of the ex-Soviet states noted that Russia has
imposed unprecedented sanctions against a CIS member country. The
Russian-Georgian standoff is forcing the rest of the Commonwealth
countries to seriously doubt the organization's capacity for survival,
as well as its effectiveness.
The Kremlin's anti-Georgian stance has demonstrated to Russia's
partners in the CIS the dangers that unfriendly relations with
Moscow can be fraught with and has forced them to think about who
may become the next victim of Russian rage. However, the scandal in
the relations between Moscow and Tbilisi has also demonstrated that
all of the relations between Moscow and the separate members of the
CIS are strictly two-sided. Problems are decided only in the Kremlin,
and meetings and summits play only a decorative role.