CHISINAU, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - Moldova handed over its presidency of the Commonwealth of Independent States to Russia on Friday during the CIS summit in Chisinau.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that the next CIS summit will take place in Moscow in December 2010.

This two-day summit in Moldova's capital was sparsely attended, with the presidents of the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan not making the trip to Chisinau.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who flew in for the summit on Friday, met with the presidents of Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia but cited a tight schedule as a reason for being unable to hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko.

"We have not spoken as I have my own work schedule and I am going home now," Medvedev told journalists after the summit.

The former Soviet states of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine are members of the CIS. Georgia recently withdrew from the organization.

At a presentation of its vision for next year's CIS presidency, Moscow said its priority would be the promotion of research and innovation cooperation in the CIS.