CIS heads of state are currently having a regular summit in Astana.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is among the participants in a narrow format meeting. The CIS leaders will soon be joined by their delegations.
"Today, the CIS Council of Heads of State will consider important issues relating to humanitarian partnership, security and other areas of our cooperation," Kazak President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
This year, Kazakhstan holds the rotating CIS presidency. Apart from the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan, the gathering will be also attended by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee Sergey Lebedev will address the meeting.
A decision to launch the CIS Human Rights Commission is expected to be made during the summit. "The creation of this kind of structure is necessitated by the need to counter West’s attempts to use the human rights domain as a tool for political pressure and interference into sovereign affairs of countries," a readout issued prior to the meeting says.
Also, an international organization to support and promote the Russian language under the CIS auspices will be created. The initiative was put forward by Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev and is aimed at promoting Russian as a language of international communication.
A solid package of joint documents has been prepared for signing, including an updated anti-terrorism and anti-extremism program for 2023-2025 and an agreement on cooperation in anti-corruption efforts.
Also, the summit’s participants are expected to approve the observer status of the CIS at the post-Soviet security bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
The leaders will also discuss the transition of the CIS presidency to Kyrgyzstan, with Kazakhstan and Russia being its co-chairs, and holding the next Commonwealth summit in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.
This is the second time the presidents of CIS member countries have met this week. On October 7, when Putin turned 70, the CIS leaders held an informal summit in St. Petersburg.
