MOLDOVA 7** Oct 2009 Chisinau hosts CIS leaders 

The roll call of leaders at the summit of the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States could be one of the more newsworthy aspects of the event as it is likely to measure the temperature of several ongoing internal CIS disputes. Only five CIS members attended Russia's informal CIS summit in July. The Abkhazian and South Ossetian leaders attended at Russia's invitation. Georgia is quitting the CIS because of Russia's support for the two breakaway regions of Georgia as sovereign states.

All CIS leaders attended the three previous summits, according to the Moscow press. The Georgian media attributes the no-shows to the CIS leaders' objections to Russia's support of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008 over the breakaway regions.

Others post-Soviet states are locked into territorial or trade disputes. Azerbaijan and Armenia are at odds over Nagorny Karabakh, a mountainous region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian population. Moldova, meanwhile, has its own breakaway territorial dispute. Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Dniester River to support the Slavic majority population, mostly Ukrainians and Russians, who have proclaimed a "Transnistria" republic. Belarus is involved in a trade dispute with Russia, which is said to be having troubles getting the CIS support it wants to strengthen the Collective Security Treaty Organization into a NATO-like body.

The association groups the members of the former Soviet Union, with the exception of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which declined to join. Moldova, usually described as the poorest country in Europe, is an anomaly in the group as a former-Soviet member as it has had regular changes of government since independence in 1991. In the words of one expert, Nicu Popescu, a research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Moldova is the only CIS country with an uninterrupted cycle of legal and constitutional transfers of power through elections since its independence in 1991. Aug/09

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RELATED READING:

Half of CIS leaders ship horse races (Moscow Times 20 Jul 2009)
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/379625.htm

Georgia leaving an ailing CIS organization (Georgian Times 27 Jul 2009)
http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=17583

Mediators amend draft Karabakh peace proposals (RFERL 28 Jul 2009)
URL: http://www.rferl.org/content/Mediators_Amend_Draft_Karabakh_Peace_Proposals/1787396.html

Moldova defies post-Soviet traditions (EU Observer 8 Aug 2009)
http://blogs.euobserver.com/popescu/2009/08/08/elections/

Mediators Amend Draft Karabakh Peace Proposals (Georgia Daily 28 Jul 2009)
http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13551&Itemid=65