Putin arrives in Tajikistan for 3 key regional summits

Moscow, Oct 5 (UNI) Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived today in Dushanbe, the Tajikistan capital, to participate in the summits of three key regional organisations, presidential special aide Sergei Prikhodko said.

During his two-day stay in Dushanbe, Russian leader will attend summits of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and the Euro-Asian Community Economic Cooperation organisation (Eurasec).

Putin's high-powered delegation included Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Naryshkin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Security Council Secretary Valentin Sobolev, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and other high-ranking officials, Prikhodko said.

Leaders of 11 CIS countries, except Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, will hold their summit today. They will gather for the sessions of the Eurasec and the CSTO tomorrow, RIA Novosti reported.

Prikhodko said each session today and tomorrow will be followed by the signing of multilateral agreements and news conferences.

He said Putin will also hold a number of bilateral meetings, including with his counterparts from Tajikistan and Belarus, and possibly with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

''They will discuss issues of two countries' cooperation within the framework of integrated organisations, namely the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Eurasec and the CSTO, as well as issues of military and military-technical cooperation, interaction in the energy sector, the situation in the central Asian region and the situation with Afghanistan,'' Prikhodko said referring to the talks between Putin and Rakhmon.

UNI