Updated 3:32 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko is unlikely to attend the upcoming summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday.
"Ukraine will have representatives at the summit, but it appears that not on the presidential level. Someone will come, but it is yet unknown who it will be," he said.
The CIS meeting will focus on the development of multilateral cooperation in the fields of economics, law enforcement and humanitarian work and will introduce several corresponding agreements to be signed, including a Statement on Strengthening the International Drug Control System. The summit participants will also approve an appeal to the CIS member states and the global community in relation to the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The heads of the former Soviet Union states will also discuss emerging security threats, including the radical Islamic State (IS) militant group, which has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012 and has now extended its offensive into Iraq.
The alliance of former Soviet states currently unites nine full members, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and two participating states: Turkmenistan and Ukraine.
Despite the fact that Ukraine was one of three founding states that ratified the agreement to create the CIS in 1991, it did not ratify the CIS Charter, becoming an associate member of the alliance in 1993.
Speculations about Ukraine's withdrawal from the CIS came the day after Crimea signed a reunification treaty with Russia on March 18. Belarus took over the CIS presidency after Kiev announced that it would abandon its post as this year's rotating head of the CIS, adding it may reconsider its membership in the organization.
According to a number of media reports that emerged at that time Ukraine had plans to back out of the organization. The press office of Ukraine's National Security Committee Secretary Andriy Parubiy later issued a statement denying the reports.
Russia also said it was unable to confirm the information as it was unaware of Kiev sending any official notification to the Commonwealth of Independent States.
