BISHKEK, October 13. /TASS/. Armenia is "not going anywhere" from the CIS and its Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is absent from the summit in Bishkek due to ‘quite understandable circumstances’, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters.

"As for Armenia, Prime Minister Pashinyan called me, we talked about today's summit, among other things. There are circumstances there, which I think are quite understandable. I'm not going to talk about it, it's better to ask the Armenian prime minister," the Russian leader said. "But as far as I understand, Armenia is not leaving the CIS," Putin pointed out.

The Russian president pointed out that the discussion at today's summit was "very lively" and many "documents of mutual interest" were signed. "Before adopting them, we discussed, talked about various aspects of these documents," Putin noted.

He recalled that in January 2024 Russia will assume the rotating CIS chairmanship, and the next CIS summit will be held in Moscow on October 8, 2024. The Russian side has already started preparing a "huge program." "Everyone agrees with this agenda, we will work," Putin concluded.