At the Chisinau summit of the CIS Heads of State, the President of Belarus Aliaksandr Lukashenka opposed the proposal to elect the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma Head of the Council of CIS Heads of State. The Rosbalt information agency quoted the press service of the Head of State of Belarus as saying that President Lukashenka believes that “this issue should not be solved on the spur of the moment.” Besides, the Belarus leader said at the summit that Ukraine has not ratified the CIS Charter, meaning that it is an associated, not full member of the Commonwealth. The proposal to elect the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma Head of the Council of CIS Heads of State was voiced at the Chisinau summit by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who currently holds the post. He also suggested the holding of the next CIS summit in Ukraine (approximately in October 2003).
True, Ukraine has not joined the CIS Charter yet. Until late 1997 it tended to call itself a founding state rather than a member state of the Commonwealth. In recent years this has been half-forgotten. The Belarus President’s statement will perhaps remind those in charge of our country’s foreign policy of the need to clearly define the relationship between Ukraine and the CIS. Incidentally, joining the CIS Charter requires the ratification by Parliament of a corresponding document.







