Leaders of ex-Soviet states meet without Georgia

Next Politics & Policy Article BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Leaders of a loose grouping of former Soviet republics met Friday in Kyrgyzstan for their first summit since Georgia quit the Moscow-dominated organization after its war with Russia. The Commonwealth of Independent States leaders agreed to coordinate efforts to fend off the effects of the global financial crisis. They said a working group on the issue would meet in Moscow in 10 days. But the leaders made no visible progress on the main agenda item, sending a plan for long-term economic development through 2020 back to be reworked instead of adopting it. Georgia, long at odds with Russia and critical of the CIS, announced it was pulling out of the organization in August after Russian forces repelled a Georgian attack on separatist South Ossetia region and rolled deep into... [read full story]