Citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russian media reports say a videoconference meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State, previously scheduled for October 16, was postponed.
The new date has not yet been set, TASS learned from the CIS Executive Committee.
"A meeting of the CIS Ministerial Council scheduled for October 15 and also a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State scheduled for October 16 have been postponed over the difficult epidemiological situation in the world and for more thorough examination of the items on the agenda,” the CIS Executive Committee said.
Initially, the CIS summit was planned to be held in Tashkent as Uzbekistan is presiding over the CIS this year.
Established on December 8, 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization. It now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.
Although Ukraine was one of the founding countries and ratified the Creation Agreement in December 1991, Ukraine chose not to ratify the CIS Charter as it disagrees with Russia being the only legal successor state to the Soviet Union. Thus it does not regard itself as a member of the CIS. In 1993, Ukraine became an "Associate Member" of CIS. On March 14, 2014, a bill was introduced to Ukraine's parliament to denounce their ratification of the 1991 Agreement Establishing the CIS, following the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, but was never approved. Following the 2014 parliamentary election, a new bill to denounce the CIS agreement was introduced. In September 2015, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Ukraine will continue taking part in CIS “on a selective basis.” Since that month, Ukraine has had no representatives in the CIS Executive Committee building. In April 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko indicated that Ukraine would formally leave the CIS. On May 19, 2018, Poroshenko signed a decree formally ending Ukraine's participation in CIS statutory bodies. However, as of June 1, the CIS secretariat had not received formal notice from Ukraine of its withdrawal from the CIS, a process which will take 1 year following notice being given. Ukraine has stated that intends review its participation in all CIS agreements, and only continue in those that are in its interests.
