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Ex-Soviet states form new group

Vladimir Radyuhin

Move to facilitate integration into E.U.

MOSCOW: The leaders of four former Soviet states have set up a new regional group to facilitate their integration into the European Union and NATO.

Meeting in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on Tuesday the Presidents of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova agreed to upgrade their loose U.S.-sponsored coalition, GUAM, into a full-fledged international organisation complete with a charter and a permanent secretariat.

The Presidents signed a declaration which said that the new group, called "Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development-GUAM," will work for deeper European integration and closer ties with the E.U. and NATO. The Itar-Tass news agency said a U.S.-GUAM meeting, attended by "a high-ranking representatives of the U.S. State Department," was held on the sidelines of the summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited to the Kiev summit.

GUAM, named after its member-states, was formed in 1997 to counter Russia's dominant role in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but showed few signs of activity until pro-Western "coloured revolutions" in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine in 2004. The new leaders of Georgia and Ukraine decided to promote the group as a vehicle for gaining membership in the E.U.

Analysts believe the U.S., which has actively supported the new group, wants it to play two roles: set up a cordone sanitaire between Russia and Europe, and promote the establishment of a new energy corridor to transport Caspian oil and gas to Europe bypassing Russia.

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