RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN ATTENDS CIS SUMMIT IN MINSK

(L to R) Head of the Commonwealth of Independent States' mission Vladimir Rushailo, Presidents Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan, Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Robert Kocharian of Armenia, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Vladimir Voronin of Moldova, Imomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan and Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine pose for a group photo at the CIS summit in Minsk, Belarus on November 28, 2006. The heads of 11 former Soviet republics on Tuesday opened a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States expected to focus on reforming the 15-year-old organization. (UPI Photo/Anatoli Zhdanov)

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