Useful dome: the CIS discussed a unified air defense system

At a meeting of the heads of government in Minsk on September 29, the CIS agreed on the use of funds for the development of a unified air defense system in 2026. In total, the participants approved 25 documents necessary to expand integration within the commonwealth. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin stressed that mutual trade has increased by 18% over the past four years. We also agreed on a strategy for digitalization of the transport corridors of the CIS member states. At the same time, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) is currently optimizing the requirements for the infrastructure of checkpoints, Ruslan Davydov, Minister for Customs Cooperation of the EEC, told Izvestia. What other topics were on the agenda of the meeting can be found in the Izvestia article.

Meeting of the CIS Heads of Government in Minsk

On September 29, Minsk hosted a meeting of the heads of government of the CIS member states. The Commonwealth consists of nine countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. However, there were no representatives from Yerevan and Chisinau in Minsk. Nevertheless, the Armenian side participated in the event via video link. Moldova, on the other hand, remains committed to moving away from the organization with the ultimate goal of withdrawing from it. And judging by the results of the elections that ended over the weekend, no changes should be expected.

One of the significant points of the meeting was the coordination of the use of funds for the development of the unified air defense system in 2026. Earlier, Secretary of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Commonwealth member states Yuri Dashkin said that the CIS countries had begun to modernize the unified air defense system. The decision to use funds for the development of a unified air defense system in 2026 is an important step towards closer military cooperation and strengthening regional security, Vladimir Shapovalov, Deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State University, told Izvestia.

"The combined air defense system can serve as a deterrent to potential aggressors, contributing to stability in the region," the expert emphasized.

It is important for Russia and its partners to modernize and improve existing air defenses, because new promising weapons systems have appeared, Vadim Koroshchupov, a junior researcher at IMEMO RAS, tells Izvestia.

— This is both logical and related to the current situation in the world. Of course, there are technical difficulties here. Therefore, such issues will take a long time to resolve. It's not easy to change some kind of screw, such issues are solved in a complex. We need to introduce new systems, materials, and software. With AI enabled, such a system can be created in two to four years," the expert explained.

The heads of government approved a total of 25 documents necessary to expand integration within the Commonwealth. In particular, they agreed on the distribution of financing for the CIS structures and the commonwealth budget, and signed three development strategies until 2035. Among them is a document on economic development for the period up to 2030.

— We are approaching the final stage of the implementation of the first stage of the Economic Development Strategy of the Commonwealth, which is calculated until the end of this year. According to expert assessment, the implementation of the action plan has made a significant contribution to the growth of the gross domestic product of the CIS. And mutual trade has increased by 18% over the past four years," Mikhail Mishustin said.

The Russian Prime Minister also stressed that it is necessary to continue creating conditions for expanding foreign economic relations, ensure the functioning of a reliable payment and financial infrastructure in national currencies, and build an effective system of cross-border settlements with foreign partners.

There are all the prerequisites for trade growth in the CIS now, Alexander Korolev, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, tells Izvestia.

— Many countries that are considered to be the main contributors to the increase in trade turnover are concentrated in the EAEU. In other words, these are the five countries, first of all, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, which have large volumes of trade, so I think it will grow," the expert says.

The parties also adopted a strategy for the scientific and technological development of the CIS for 2026-2035.

— In order to strengthen technological sovereignty, it is necessary to continue developing cooperation between scientists and engineers of our countries. Launch new projects that are in demand. Share best practices. Raise the level of research and development to achieve world–class breakthrough results in fundamental areas. The Strategy of scientific and technological Development of the CIS, which we are adopting today, is aimed at this," Mikhail Mishustin said.

Transport corridors

One of the key issues at the meeting was the digitalization project of the main multimodal transport corridors of the CIS member states. Cooperation within the framework of the project will be aimed at creating a single digital space for data exchange between transportation participants, introducing digital forms of cargo data transmission, as well as optimizing logistics processes. Recall that in June 2025, a strategic group for the development of international transport corridors was established in the CIS.

The territory of the CIS member states is affected by many transport corridors. For example, the Trans–Siberian Railway, the North-South Railway, and so on. The routes are used for the transportation of goods and passengers, combine different types of transport and provide links between the Commonwealth states.

Many CIS countries are also members of the EAEU. The organization deals with issues of economic and trade cooperation between the participants. The Eurasian Economic Commission (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia are members of the EAEU) is currently working on optimizing the infrastructure requirements for checkpoints located along international transport corridors, Ruslan Davydov, Minister for Customs Cooperation of the EEC, told Izvestia.

— The transport corridor is a multimodal project where rail, road and sea transportation are connected in a single complex. International corridors pass through customs borders and through checkpoints. And the point can either provide high throughput, or become a bottleneck in the way of goods movement. For the accelerated movement of goods at checkpoints, there must be an appropriate infrastructure, including modern, breakthrough digital technologies. The Eurasian Economic Commission has the competence to approve standard requirements for the infrastructure of checkpoints — we are discussing this topic as a priority for us," he said.

Innoprom in Minsk

During his visit to Minsk, the Russian Prime Minister inspected the stands and spoke at the plenary session of the Innoprom industrial exhibition. Belarus has become the third country to host the outbound forum: since 2021, the Central Asian Innoprom has been held in Tashkent, and in 2023, the event was held in Kazakhstan.

Many Russian companies are represented at the exhibition. Among the largest are Rosatom, Rostec and the United Aircraft Corporation. Mikhail Mishustin urged the Innoprom participants not to slow down the pace of cooperation.

"We visited the exhibition and saw the achievements of our developers and manufacturers,— he said. — This is the result of both national policies and constructive and fruitful cooperation.

Now the Russian government continues to do everything necessary to expand the production of high-quality high-tech products created at the expense of its own scientific and engineering solutions, as well as strengthen the country's industrial base, the Russian Prime Minister stressed.

— I invite the business of the "five" countries to actively use this opportunity and work together. In cooperation, we are able to increase and modernize our capacities — to produce high—demand products and achieve independence from foreign suppliers," he said.

Earlier, Chairman of the EEC Board Bakytzhan Sagintayev stated that the volume of mutual trade between the EAEU countries in 2025 will exceed $100 billion.