CIS informal summit in Moscow

An informal summit of the CIS leaders will continue in Moscow on Saturday.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Belarus arrived in Moscow at Vladimir Putin's invitation yesterday.

The CIS leaders will hold an informal discussion of preparations for the September summit in Astana and the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the Kremlin press service told RIA Novosti.

Moreover, the sides will consider the CIS development and implementation of these or those decisions, said Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin.

At this summit the CIS leaders will hold a free discussion of interesting issues, he added. In his words, they are likely to raise the problem of the Georgian-Ossetian settlement to promote peaceful talks. [South Ossetia is a self-proclaimed republic in Georgia].

"We expect Tbilisi to cease attacks against the mixed control commission for Georgian-Ossetian settlement," Mr. Loshchinin said.

"This commission is the single mechanism of negotiations, which was formed to discuss Georgian-Ossetian problems," he stressed. According to him, no bilateral talks are planned during the informal summit.