Russian President not intent to meet with his Belarusian counterpart in frames of CSTO summit in Yerevan
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he did not plan to hold a bilateral meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko within the framework of the CSTO summit to be held in Yerevan on August 20-21, according to Russian daily Kommersant.
According to the source, Belarus President may not attend the summit at all (Mr Lukashenko has already ignored a similar meeting in Moscow last year over a ban on Belarusian milk products which aroused tension in relations between Belarus and Russia.)
Mr Medvedev's move follows a row with Mr Lukashenko. The point is that Russia's president recently lashed out at Mr Lukashenko for backtracking his pledge to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia - something the Belarusian leader denies.