Not One CIS Leader Spoke Out in Favor of Putin’s Bombing Campaign in Syria

Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 18 – In an indication of Vladimir Putin’s isolation even in the former Soviet space and of the weakness of the CIS as an institution, not a single president of a member state publicly supported the Kremlin leader’s bombing campaign in Syria at the CIS summit in Kazakhstan, Arkady Dubnov notes.

            The Russian commentator says that it is “obvious” Putin “did not receive support for his actions in Syria” at the Friday meeting. Even more, there are clear indications that he faced opposition: For the first time ever, all the sessions were closed to the public and even Putin’s speech was not broadcast live (echo.msk.ru/blog/dubnov/1642192-echo/).

            And he cites the words of Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka that the discussions about Syria at the meeting were “unexpectedly stormy” and notes that nothing was included in the joint statement issued at the end about involving the Moscow-dominated Organization of the Collective Security Treaty in the Syrian operation.

            “There is sufficient basis to conclude that the three Caspian CIS member states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan were, to put it mildly, not delighted by the Russian rocket attack launched against Syria from the Caspian Sea,” Dubnov continues, because “any military action [from that sea] should have been agreed among them.

            The Kremlin leader thus must recognize that if he continues his current course in Syria, he may face something he certainly wants and hopes to avoid: open opposition to his policies by leaders of CIS member states, something that could become another step on the way to the demolition of that institution.