Putin’s term in office expires in early May. Russia will hold the presidential election on March 2.

In Armenia, incumbent Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan won the presidential election on Tuesday.

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will meet with heads of CIS states on Friday.

A high-ranking Kremlin official told Itar-Tass that "First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will make a report at the forum, per preliminary agreement with the CIS leaders."

The summiteers are planning to consider "interaction in the implementation of joint projects in the social and humanitarian sphere which are consonant with the national projects in Russia supervised by Medvedev."

The forum will be opened by incumbent CIS chairman Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and summit host Vladimir Putin will briefly address his colleagues.

Taking part in the CIS top-level meeting will be Presidents Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus), Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan), Viktor Yushchenko (Ukraine), Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (Turkmenistan), Emomali Rakhmon (Tajikistan), Vladimir Voronin (Moldova), Mikhail Saakashvili (Georgia), Ilkham Aliyev (Azerbaijan) and Islam Karimov (Uzbekistan).

The upcoming event will be the 16th forum brining together CIS leaders in which Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate, the Kremlin said.

"Up to date, there have been 15 meetings the Council of CIS leaders since January 2000, including four informal ones," a Kremlin insider said.

He underlined that the "development of interaction with CIS states remains a most important priority in Russia’s foreign and economic policies for a long-term perspective."

The Kremlin representative also said that "during the informal meting (in accordance with the establish practice, there’s no rigid agenda), the parties are expected to consider the pressing issues of cooperation within the CIS framework in the economic and political fields."