Putin invites CIS leaders to informal St Petersburg meeting on December 21

At a summit in Turkmenistan, the Russian president also thanked his counterparts for birthday greetings and noted the tradition of leaders congratulating one another.

Russian President Vladimir Putin invited the leaders of CIS countries to a traditional informal meeting in St Petersburg on December 21. He made the invitation at a meeting of the Commonwealth’s heads of state in Turkmenistan.

Putin described the gathering as friendly and proposed discussing current and prospective issues there. He said the informal summit before New Year had become a good tradition.

At the same meeting, the Russian president thanked his counterparts for their warm birthday greetings. In a joking slip, he called his birthday “my New Year” and then noted that CIS leaders traditionally congratulate one another on their birthdays.

Interfax confirmed the date and venue of the planned gathering: it is scheduled for December 21 in St Petersburg. The CIS heads-of-state summit is taking place in Turkmenistan on October 9.