Ukraine protests CIS plans to monitor Russian elections in Crimea![]() August 18, 2016 - 17:10 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Ukraine has protested to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) over the organization’s plans to send monitors to the Russian State Duma elections in the region of Crimea, RFE/RL reports. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday, August 18 published a statement saying the CIS “has been formally notified about the Ukrainian stance regarding the Russian intention to spread [the elections] into the temporarily occupied territory” of Crimea and the Crimean city of Sevastopol. It noted that the elections “will not have any legal consequence” and added that any monitoring of the “farce election will be seen as an unfriendly move.” The CIS is an organization of some former Soviet republics. Nine of them -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- are full members, while Turkmenistan and Ukraine are associate states. Georgia withdrew from the CIS after the war against Russia in 2008. ![]() ![]() Azerbaijani authorities report that they have already resettled 3,000 people in the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Stepanakert. On June 10, Azerbaijani President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will leave for Turkey on a working visit. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. ![]() ![]() Partner news | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |