The leading member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have discussed a draft treaty on a free trade zone in the CIS and on internationally-wanted persons, as well as the concept of military cooperation until 2015 at a summit in Moscow. The Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS was signed 19 years ago in Bialowieza Forest by the leaders of three republics - Belarus, Ukraine and theRSFSR. Just before then, the decision was taken to terminate the existence of the USSR as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality. Alexei Vlasov, the General Director of the Information Analytical Center for the Study of Socio-political Processes in post-Soviet space and the editor-in-chief of “VestnikKavkaza”, talked to the “Voice of Russia” on what has changed since then:
- Do you think that the CIS has become something more than a mechanism for a civilized divorce, as described at the time by Vladimir Putin?
- I think that the CIS has gradually turned into a universal negotiating platform, a kind of presidents’ club for meetings on a bilateral or multilateral basis, during which they can discuss the most topical and important issues for them, not only on the agenda of post-Soviet space, but also on a global scale.
- A CIS summit was held in Moscow on the 10th of December. Every time the presidents meet, the question about the effectiveness of this format arises. How does it justify its existence nowadays?
- Already at the beginning of my reply I have assessed the actual state of the CIS as an integrative framework. The major projects operate through parallel systems of EurAsEC, the CSTO and to a certain extent in joint projects in post-SCO space. The CIS only echoes certain trends, but does not have the tools of a structure, of an organization, to be able in any way to correct or change the direction in which post-Soviet space is evolving. But the fact that the summit took place, despite the fact that every year many experts bury the CIS and predict that it will die soon, says that the patient is more alive than dead.
- What needs to be reorganized in the CIS, in which format should the Commonwealth exist?
- I think that the CIS as a structure should evolve towards the global implementation of promising projects in the social, cultural and humanitarian spheres, supporting economic projects, to prevent post-Soviet space from undergoing further fragmentation, to make it maintain its internal integrity. Namely: the Russian language as a means of communication, free visa-free movement across borders and the economic preferences, which are still existent among CIS states.
“Voice of Russia”
