BISHKEK, October 13 Work within the CIS strengthens the identity position of the countries included in the association, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
«The choice of each of us is whether we want to preserve our identity or not. Working within the CIS gives us this opportunity and, on the contrary, strengthens our positions. At the same time, it does not prevent us from cooperating with each other and respecting our national characteristics,» Putin said at the meeting Council of Heads of State of the CIS in a narrow composition.
He emphasized that it is no coincidence that, despite the unprecedented sanctions pressure from Western states and their threats to apply so-called secondary sanctions against those countries that continue to work in bilateral formats with the Russian Federation and Belarus, economic ties and exchanges within the CIS are consistently expanding.