Russian President Dmitry Medvedev snubbed Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko today, dodging a request for a face-to-face meeting at a gathering of ex-Soviet states, according to Reuters. The pro-Western Ukrainian president wrote to Medvedev ahead of a summit of Commonwealth of Independent States leaders to ask for a separate meeting following months of tension and a highly personal attack on him by the Kremlin chief. But Medvedev came and went from the CIS summit in the Moldovan capital Chisinau, giving Yushchenko little more than a formal handshake and a few words of exchange. "We greeted each other, chatted in the framework of the session. He (Yushchenko) probably wanted (to meet) but I couldn't...I have things to do back home," Medvedev was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Yushchenko, in a statement, said a separate meeting with Medvedev in Chisinau had not materialised "because of positions taken by the Russian side." Yushchenko's pro-western policies, including his push for NATO membership for Ukraine, have riled Russia and Medvedev last August publicly wrote off doing business with him.
