MINSK, March 06. /ITAR-TASS/. The Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is engaged in consultations with member states to coordinate issues concerning the holding an urgent meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers proposed by Ukraine.
“The CIS Executive Committee sent the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ note to the foreign ministries of other CIS countries and is now coordinating with them organizational issues concerning the holding of an extraordinary meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in hope that it will be held shortly,” the press service of the CIS Executive Committee in Minsk said on Thursday, March 6.
It said this matter would need to be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of CIS permanent representatives.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry suggested holding an urgent meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in Kiev on March 7 to discuss the situation in some Ukrainian regions, including Crimea.
Later, Ivan Bunechko, Ukraine’s permanent representative to the CIS coordination bodies, told ITAR-TASS that his country had proposed that the meeting be postponed from March 7 till March 12.
CIS permanent representatives are expected to meet in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on March 10.
Kazakhstan said it would attend an urgent ministerial meeting if all other CIS countries made the same decision.
“We are worried about the situation in Ukraine, and we are prepared to take part in an extraordinary meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers, if all participants make the same decision,” Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhanbolat Usenov said.
Moldova also reiterated its readiness to attend a ministerial meeting. “A Moldovan representative is ready to take part in the meeting, but we have been notified that the meeting scheduled for March 7 was postponed for technical reasons. A new date is being discussed now,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Taban told ITAR-TASS.
Tajikistan said, however, it would not be able to attend the meeting for technical reasons.
“The Foreign Ministry received the invitation from Ukraine literally an hour ago,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. Tajik Foreign Minister Sirodzhiddin Aslov “left this morning for a ten-day foreign trip that was scheduled last year,” he said, adding that Nozirmat Aliyev, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Department for CIS Affairs, was also away.
The official said that “it takes time to make the decision [on participation] and coordinate it with the leadership of the republic, but there is no such time now.”
In addition, “all diplomats plan their events at least a week in advance,” he said.
Kyrgyzstan has so far not made up its mind on participation in an urgent ministerial meeting proposed by Ukraine. The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry declined to make further comments.