Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted leaders of former Soviet states in St. Petersburg, Russia on Tuesday.
This annual gathering of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) traditionally brings together 9 out of 15 former Soviet republics. Interestingly, the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan, embroiled in a conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, were also in attendance.
According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Putin met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the first time since tensions resurfaced in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan now controls the disputed territory, home to over 100,000 ethnic Armenians.
Previously, Pashinyan had refrained from attending several meetings with Russia, including a CIS summit in Kyrgyzstan last October.
The CIS consists of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Russia.
Georgia withdrew from the alliance in 2009 following the South Ossetia war with Russia. Ukraine left in 2018.
