CHISINAU, Moldova — President Dmitry Medvedev snubbed Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday, dodging a request for a face-to-face meeting at a CIS summit.
Yushchenko wrote to Medvedev ahead of the summit of Commonwealth of Independent States leaders to ask for a separate meeting, following months of tension and a highly personal attack on him by Medvedev.
But Medvedev gave Yushchenko little more than a formal handshake and a few words of exchange. “He probably wanted [to meet] but I couldn’t. … I have things to do back home,” Medvedev said, Interfax reported.
Yushchenko said talks with Medvedev had not materialized “because of positions taken by the Russian side.”
Medvedev met Moldovan interim President Mihai Ghimpu and said Russia was interested in maintaining close relations with Moldova, which elected a pro-European government in July.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters that Russia might give Moldova a loan of up to $150 million.
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan reported no progress at talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
At the end of the summit, officials agreed to set up a security system on the external borders of the CIS and to coordinate efforts to fight organized crime, illegal immigration, smuggling and drug trafficking.
(Reuters, AP, Bloomberg)
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