OREANDA-NEWS. The ties that have survived since the times of the USSR play a role, this allows the CIS countries to pass through the difficult times of the pandemic better than some, says Russian President Vladimir Putin at an informal CIS summit.

“I would like to thank the initiators of this meeting for today's event. Despite the fact that it is being held in Russia, in St. Petersburg, practically each of you in one way or another spoke in favor of organizing the meeting in this particular mode,” Putin said.

He noted that over the past decades there have been many changes, including cardinal ones, but the very creation of the CIS was justified, integration in many areas deepened, including in the field of security and in the economy.

"In general, the relations that have been preserved since the times of the Soviet Union play a positive role - common communications, common enterprises that work as partners - chains of additional value creation in a sufficiently high degree of cooperation, all this has not only been preserved, but much has been promoted, developed on a completely new soil, a completely new base. This gives us the opportunity to go through a difficult time of the pandemic ... but we, while maintaining the opportunities and competitive advantages that we inherited from the past, are able to overcome these difficulties even better than in other countries of the world ", - added Putin.