DUSHANBE, October 31, 2012, — A summit of leaders of member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent State (CSI) scheduled for the start of November has been postponed until early December.
According to the CIS Executive Committee, the next CIS summit will take place in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on December 5.
The CIS Executive Committee Chairman Sergey Lebedev met with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in Ashgabat on October 30. Turkmen leader reportedly also supported Lebedev’s proposal to hold the CIS foreign ministers’ meeting in Ashgabat on December 4.
The CIS Executive Committee says the postponement was caused by the necessity of more thoroughly working out documents that would be considered at the meeting.
Meanwhile, some media outlets report that that the CIS summit has been postponed amid worries over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s health.
The Kremlin dismissed talk that Putin had been sidelined from foreign trips after government sources told Reuters he was suffering from back trouble that could require surgery.
The sources said the Russian leader”s schedule was being cleared for early November, including the postponement until late December of a trip to India that had been expected soon.
Reuters reports that speculation increased when Putin failed to travel to Pakistan for a four-nation summit on Afghanistan this month or to make an expected trip to Turkey. None of these trips had been officially announced by the Kremlin.
