Dmitry Peskov also did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the CICA
Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to take part in a number of bilateral meetings in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, this week on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Council of Heads of State of the CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States – TASS), Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
The location of the meeting, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola and most recently Nur-Sultan, before it was renamed Astana in 1998, is the capital city of Kazakhstan and is now rebranding itself as a go-to venue for international mediation talks.
Speaking about the forthcoming meeting, Russian Presidency’s Spokesman Peskov said, “Yes, the president is scheduled to travel to Astana this week, this is indeed the case. And there will be a whole series of bilateral meetings. There will be a summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia and there will be a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State: a small one, an enlarged one and so on.”
Peskov also did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the CICA. “It is possible,” the Kremlin spokesman said, answering a corresponding question.
In addition, Peskov told reporters that Russia and its Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) allies have no serious disagreements with each other. Earlier it was reported that Kyrgyzstan cancelled the CSTO Indestructible Brotherhood drills on its territory, in September Yerevan also decided not to participate in the drills. “No,” the Kremlin spokesman replied when asked if this meant that the CSTO allies had differences.
As Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov noted in early September, Putin plans to take part in the CICA, the CIS summit and the Central Asia-Russia meeting in Astana on October 12-14.
Kazakhstan is chairing the CIS this year. The CICA is an interstate forum created on Kazakhstan’s initiative in 1992. Its headquarters is located in the capital of the republic.
