PUTIN DEVELOPS PLAN FOR ECONOMIC UNION OF FORMER SOVIET STATES
ABIGAIL HAUSLOHNER
MOSCOW
Friday 30 May 2014
Vladimir Putin has moved to further bolster Russia’s ties to former
Soviet republics, as his nation’s relationships with the US and Europe
continue to fray.
The President met his counterparts from Kazakhstan and Belarus in the
Kazakh capital, Astana, to initiate the formation of the Eurasian
Economic Union. He has long sought to form the bloc in hopes that
it would provide an eastern counterweight to economic and political
powerhouses such as the EU and the US.
The codes of the union, set for launch on 1 January 2015, will
give the citizens of member states equal employment and education
opportunities across all three nations. The three presidents also
said that the deal would involve collaborative policies on energy,
technology, industry, agriculture and transportation.
“A new geo-economic reality of the 21st century is being born today,”
said the Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, The deal, 20 years
in the making, was “a hard-won achievement,” he said.
The Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister, Bakytzhan Sagintayev, told
reporters the three countries had not discussed the possibility of
instituting a single currency.
Meanwhile, regional moves by Russia continue to spur anxiety.
Poland’s ambassador to the US, Ryszard Schnepf, told reporters in
Washington that his country was looking for a clear commitment of
support from President Barack Obama during his visit next week. Mr
Schnepf said Poland would welcome a greater US military presence
in the region as a check against potential Russian aggression. He
said Europe and the US “need to take the steps to prevent the future
possible aggressions.”
Some analysts quickly dismissed the Eurasian Economic Union, saying
it was likely to have little practical impact. “I don’t believe
that the Eurasian union is [going to be] able to open the door for
modernisation,” said Alexey Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie
Endowment’s Moscow Centre. “That’s a big deal, because without
modernisation and real economic reforms, what does it mean?”
But the idea of a Eurasian union has become particularly attractive
to the Kremlin because the Ukraine crisis has sent US-Russian ties
tumbling to their lowest point since the Cold War. Western powers have
levelled sanctions against key Russian figures linked to Moscow’s
annexation of Ukraine’s autonomous Crimea region two months ago,
and broader sanctions may be on the way. In March, the former US
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, accused Mr Putin of seeking to
revive the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991. The Soviet Union
included Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and 11 other states, most of
which remain under Russia’s influence.
Mr Putin has denied any intention to annex former Soviet republics,
even though Moscow has backed pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and
other former Soviet lands. On Thursday, he said other countries were
scrambling to join the Eurasian Union. The participants discussed
Armenia’s potential membership during their meeting. It was unclear
which other countries Mr Putin thinks will join.
It also remained unclear whether the union would constitute an economic
arrangement or something more political, Mr Malashenko said.
The Ukraine crisis has made it “clear” that the Eurasian union is
“a tool for Russia to realise its political goals,” he said.
Inside Russia, many people are frustrated with what they see as
domineering US foreign policy and economic might, and they are angry
at Russia’s flagging economy and endemic corruption. The combination
makes the idea of a Russian revival – and commanding new attention on
the world stage – increasingly popular. And thus, so is the concept
underpinning the Eurasian Economic Union.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-develops-plan-for-economic-union-of-former-soviet-states-9462359.html