Nothing bad in CIS as meeting club - deputy minister.

MOSCOW, September 9 (Itar-Tass) -- A top Russian diplomat agreed the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) which unites former Soviet
republics has developed in 20 years of its existence into a meeting club
for national leaders, but said there is nothing bad in it.
"They say the Commonwealth has developed into a club for meetings and
nothing else. Even if this were so what is bad in it? Mutual attraction
remained," Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said in an
interview with the Rossiyskaya gazeta published on Friday.
"We have divorced, but did not part. That is the way to live, not to
impede, but assist each other," he added.
He admitted the CIS failed to achieve initially proclaimed goals. "At
the first stage the talk was no more and no less about joint armed forces
and a common foreign policy. However life quickly put everything in place.
Overstated expectations did not come true which is only logical."
Denisov rejected claims that Russia is working to compel CIS countries
to join such integration institutions as the Customs Union and EurAsEC
economic community.
"Only the perception of own interests can push that or another country
to an integration association," Denisov said. "It is an issue of sovereign
political choice," he added.
He also said Russia is against western attempts to make CIS countries
choose between Russia and the European Union. "We are categorically
against such a presentation and have never concealed it in talks with
partners from the European Union," he said.
Denisov said Russia plays a specific role in the Customs Union of
which also Kazakhstan and Belarus are members, as well as in EurAsEC.
"If we take the aggregate economic potential of Russia, Kazakhstan,
and Belarus for a hundred percent, Russia will account for 89 percent,
Kazakhstan - 7 and Belarus - 4. The disparity is clear. The Russian GDP is
nearly 30 times bigger than that of Belarus. The problem should not be
concealed," he said, but added "it does not mean that Russia sustains
someone."
Naturally, Russia assists CIS economies through the EurAsEC
anti-crisis fund. "For the help Russia gets the right to operate on that
or another market," Denisov said.