CIS Daily Bulletin, March 26

Below is a summary of events in the Commonwealth of Independent States on March 26:

Belarus:

* The Russia-Belarus Union State is to allocate funds for 42 projects in 2009, a Union State deputy secretary said

Georgia:

* Russia is preparing a request for Georgia to extradite Russian soldier Alexander Glukhov who fled his military unit in South Ossetia in January, but has not yet filed the order, a military investigator said

Kyrgyzstan:

* Kyrgyzstan is not considering the possibility of reversing its move to terminate the U.S. lease of the Manas airbase in the north of the country, Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev said

Tajikistan:

* The Russian emergencies ministry has sent an Il-76 plane containing 30.5 tons of humanitarian aid to Tajikistan, a ministry spokeswoman said

Ukraine:

* The mayor of Kiev Leonyd Chernovetskiy, whose mental competency has been questioned over recent policies and extravagant remarks, said he would run for president of Ukraine

* In a brewing dispute with the EU over a new natural gas agreement with Ukraine, Russia's Foreign Ministry said the decision to exclude Russia from the talks was an "unfriendly act"