All CIS Heads of State  to attend May 9 in Moscow - Lebedev

ArmInfo.The leaders of the CIS member states will participate in the celebrations on May 9 in Moscow, commemorating the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. This was announced by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Sergei Lebedev at a meeting of the Council of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, TASS reports.  "I am happy and pleased, just like you, to announce that all CIS heads of state will be  attending the celebrations in Moscow on May 9," he noted.

Currently, in addition to Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent  States includes Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,  Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Moldova is also a legal member of the CIS,  but in February it refused to pay membership fees and de facto ceased  to be a member of the organization.

On March 14, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed in a  phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he had  accepted the invitation of the Russian president and would attend the  celebrations on May 9 in Moscow. Additionally, on April 11,  Pashinyan's press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, denied media  reports that Russian resident Vladimir Putin would meet with Armenian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev  before the annual parade on Red Square in Moscow on May 9. <A  trilateral meeting - Pashinyan-Putin-Aliyev - is not planned for May  9,> she said.