CIS heads of state invited to approve occupied Berdzor as the  cultural capital of the Commonwealth for 2025 on Tuesday

ArmInfo. "A separate decision is proposed to the CIS heads of state to approve the cultural capitals of the Commonwealth:  next year - Azerbaijani Lachin (i.e. the Berdzor town in Artsakh, occupied by Azerbaijan - ed.), for 2026 - Armenian Meghri and for 2027 - Belarusian Molodechno." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated this on October 7, summing up the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth and reflecting on the documents to be submitted to the CIS heads for consideration during their summit to be held Tuesday.

According to him, a number of decisions were made during the meeting regarding the cooperation between law enforcement agencies. "An important innovation is a document establishing subject-matter ties and interaction in the field of artificial intelligence. There is also a significant focus on cultural and humanitarian issues related to interaction through youth and volunteer organizations," the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. Additionally, documents were also adopted  on the unacceptability of unilateral coercive measures - "sanctions"; the main working standards for the formation of a Eurasian security system and on cooperation in the field of physical education and sports.

 "We have approved a plan for consultations between foreign policy agencies for 2025. It includes approximately 20 relevant topics. I am confident that this plan will contribute to the further development of our collaboration, the coordination of our actions in the international arena, including at the UN, as well as during the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which opens next month in Baku," Lavrov said. When asked how they manage to cope with Western pressure on the CIS countries, the Russian minister noted that they manage to handle it well. "The methods used by the West are rejected by all other countries, including the post-Soviet states. Illegal measures like "secondary" and "tertiary" sanctions, used when someone does not like the fact that two independent countries building relations with each other, have nothing to do with international law".

According to him, the Russian side already knows "how to counteract this essentially raider, criminal activity and act strictly in accordance with international law, as well as the norms of the World Trade Organization." "We are progressively developing the economy of each of the CIS countries. Each of them is increasing their GDP, trade turnover, investment turnover and other economic resources," Lavrov concluded.