CIS TO COORDINATE EUROPEAN POLICIES, NATO RELATIONS?

Ata meeting in Bishkek, billed as the first in what are to becomeregular periodic meetings of this kind, representatives of foreignministries of all CIS member countries agreed to coordinate theirpositions on European problems, including their participationin NATO´s Partnership for Peace program, said Kyrgyzstan´sforeign minister Roza Otunbaeva at a briefing reported by InterfaxJuly 11. The claim is almost certainly exaggerated but it doesreflect Moscow´s recent efforts to increase the integrationof the 12 CIS countries. One example of what this new effort meanscame last month when Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev, andlater Boris Yeltsin, asked Moldova to coordinate its participationin Partnership for Peace with Russia.

CIS Policy: Ends and Means.