The influential Russian businessman, Mr Boris Berezovsky, was yesterday appointed executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), at a summit which failed to paper over divisions in the loose grouping of former Soviet states.
Mr Berezovsky was elected by all 12 heads of state meeting at a one-day summit in Moscow. The summit - twice postponed due to President Yeltsin's health problems - appeared to achieve little in reviving the almost moribund regional grouping, and the 12 CIS leaders failed to adopt a joint statement.
It was the leaders' first meeting since an acrimonious gathering in Moldova last October at which Russia was pilloried.
The leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajik istan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Russia had been expected to discuss the creation of a joint economic "space" and wide-ranging structural reforms of the organisation.
Experts said the CIS is too deeply split to remain a coherent body, with some Central Asian states seeking closer ties with Russia and others increasingly turning towards the West, seeking more independence from Moscow. The three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, never joined the grouping.
Ukraine's President, Mr Leonid Kuchma, said in Kiev yesterday, before the summit, that talk in Moscow of a single economic space was premature. He said economic co-operation must first be reinforced, notably in agriculture, energy and transport sectors.
Mr Yeltsin, however, had told delegates that "the peoples of the CIS are not only expecting a declaration stating that the commonwealth exists, but also and especially, actions and concrete measures".
In one sign of a purpose for the organisation, the President of Armenia, Mr Robert Kocharian, and the President of Azerbaijan, Mr Heydar Aliyev, held their first talks since the Armenian presidential elections last month, which brought Mr Kocharian to power. He is considered a hero of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian-backed 1988-1994 war to secede from Azerbaijan.
The one notable event, however, was the nomination of Mr Berezovsky (52), one of Russia's most powerful business barons and widely rumoured to have fallen out in recent weeks with his patron, Mr Yeltsin.
Observers said if Mr Berezovsky had been chosen by the non-Russians in the CIS, this might be because of his diplomatic abilities. As a Jew, Mr Berezovsky is also seen by many as not "too Russian", and therefore able to negotiate the difficult tasks of CIS leader.