MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - The leaders of six of the 11 CIS countries were joined in Moscow on Saturday by the presidents of the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for an informal trip to the races.
The annual President's Cup horse race has become something of an event for CIS leaders, although Russia's strained relations with some members of the Commonwealth of Independent States resulted in several no-shows by the presidents of Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The leaders of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova did attend, with only the Tajik president not running a horse in the race, which was won by the stallion Monomakh from the Don stables in Rostov, southern Russia.
"We personally invited all the presidents," Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said on Friday.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov expressed his thanks for the invitation but said the trip would not fit into his schedule, while Turkmenistan's Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov declined the invitation due to a relative's illness.
Belarus, Ukraine and Turkmenistan have had diplomatic differences with Russia in recent months, particularly over trade in natural gas, but Moscow saw no drama in the absences.
Despite the removal of much political significance from the event, President Dmitry Medvedev held meetings with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Tajik leader Emomali Rakhmon. Medvedev said the latter laid the groundwork for his upcoming trip to Tajikistan.
After the race, Medvedev met jointly over lunch with the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, to discuss the search for a settlement to the dispute over Nagorny Karabakh, an Armenian-populated region in Azerbaijan that has been de facto independent since a conflict in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Russian president has become personally engaged in the search for a resolution to the standoff, and the sides were expected to continue discussions started by the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on Friday about the fundamental principles of a settlement.
The Moscow gathering was also significant for the attendance of Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh and South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity, marking their increasing integration by Moscow into post-Soviet international structures.
Moscow recognized the two republics shortly after its war with Georgia last August, when Tbilisi attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Despite diplomatic pressure, particularly on Belarus, only Nicaragua has joined Russia in recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
