Heads of State summit for the Commonwealth of Independent States begins
The Heads of Government summit for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will meet in Turkmenistan today.
Prior to the upcoming event, Secretary General of the CIS Sergey Lebedev held a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Turkmenistan where he noted the importance of Turkmenistan’s active participation in the CIS this year to strengthen ties between the participating states.
Turkmenistan, an associate state rather than an official member, may encourage the Russian-dominated organization to expand its zone of influence to avoid losing its relevance on the international stage. However, efforts to urge cooperation may be limited by the disputes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as an increasingly strained relationship between Armenia and Russia.
Armenia has indicated an interest in leaving Russia’s orbit after Moscow defaulted on its formal obligations to protect the country when Azerbaijan violated Yerevan’s internationally recognized borders in 2021 and 2022. It is unlikely that the CIS will look past these tensions as it meets to discuss cooperation, and the summit will probably focus on symbolic, surface-level terms rather than signing agreements on practical developments in the region. Expect this to hinder Russia’s attempts to develop closer economic ties with other CIS members.
