MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will gather the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in St. Petersburg for an informal summit before the New Year. The meeting is a traditional format of communication between the heads of state, who for many years have gathered in St. Petersburg in the last days of December.

The day before, the Russian leader held a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg. In particular, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Kyrgyz head of state Sadyr Japarov took part in the meeting.

As Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported earlier, Putin will have, among other things, "a great opportunity to talk on the sidelines" with Pashinyan.

Tradition of informal summits

The Russian head of state described such summits as conversations "in a friendly circle" where the business agenda, both regional and international, is discussed. Last year, at such an event, he noted that the traditional New Year's Eve meetings of CIS leaders eloquently testify to the desire of CIS member states to continue developing cooperation within the CIS in the spirit of true strategic partnership, mutual benefit, and consideration of the interests of all states.

Putin repeatedly pointed out that cooperation within the association is actively developing: trade turnover is growing, settlements are being converted into national currencies, new projects are emerging, including in industry and science.

In 2024, Russia will assume the rotating chairmanship over the CIS - this post will pass to it from Kyrgyzstan. As Putin said earlier, the program of the Moscow presidency is very rich, it will include about 150 events. The most important one will be the next summit, which is scheduled to be held in Moscow on October 8.

The Russian leader also emphasized that in this position Russia is determined to cooperate with all CIS partners, both bilaterally and within the framework of the presidency.

The CIS currently consists of 11 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. At the same time, as Putin pointed out, Moldova and Ukraine have long been de facto nominal participants and are not involved in the work of the association.