Lukashenka ignores CIS summit in Dushanbe

The Belarusian delegation to the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Dushanbe will be led by Mikhaal Myasnikovich.

Interfax-Zapad news agency learnt this from Pavel Lyohki, the chief of Lukashenka’s press service.

“The head of government has power necessary for proper and effective work of the Belarusian delegation at the summit,” the head of the president’s press service notes.

He added that “Belarus has always stayed committed to the integration processes in the post-Soviet area”. “This position of our state cannot be reviewed,” Lyohki said.

Answering a question why Alyaksandr Lukashenka does not attend the summit, Lyohki said that “the head of state takes personal control over implementation of the decisions taken on August 30 at a meeting on social and economic development of Belarus”. “The president considers his task to fulfill these decisions strictly and rigorously,” the press service chief said.

He said it was one of the president’s prior concerns for today. Lyohki asked to “take into account that another CIS summit, which is to formalize the decisions of the Dushanbe forum, is to be held this year”.

PM Myasnikovich is expected to left for the meeting of the CIS Heads of State Council in Tajikistan on Friday, September 3.