Russia's Putin once again heads ex-Soviet bloc

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2004

MOSCOW (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin took over once again as head of the CIS ex-Soviet bloc at a summit in the Kazakh capital Astana, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russian leaders have traditionally headed the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose grouping of 12 former Soviet republics, since its creation in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But in January 2003, Putin handed over the chairmanship to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, marking the first time that a non-Russian leader was at its helm.

This was seen as a move to shore up Kuchma, then under international and domestic pressure over US accusations he had approved arms sales to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

The Russian leader said at the time it had been "a...