Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he had invited all leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), some of whom are not members of the Eurasian Economic Union, to an informal EAEU economic association summit that will take in St. Petersburg on December 20.
“My colleagues from the Eurasian Economic Union agreed to hold a traditional informal meeting on December 20 in St. Petersburg and invite all CIS leaders to join us in a friendly, completely informal atmosphere ahead of the new year to talk about current issues, exchange views on what we could do in the coming year, align positions on pressing international issues,” Putin said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS.
The Commonwealth of Independent States was created in 1991 to facilitate cooperation between the former Soviet republics, including Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The EAEU was established in 2014 by Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to create a single market and facilitate economic relations between themselves. (UNI
