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EURASIAN SPACE IN RESPONSE TO EASTERN PARTNERSHIP: RUSSIA LURING POST-SOVIET COUNTRIES WITH NEW PRIVILEGES
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
http://www.armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/32158/european_partnership_russia_armenia
05.10.11 | 11:15
Two world centers, Europe and Russia, continue a 20-year effort to
absorb the former Soviet republics, including the South Caucasus.
After the European Union's Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw on
September 30 that was attended by the leaders or officials of six
former Soviet countries and during which a simplified visa regime
between these nations and the EU was suggested, Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin announced his intention to create a Eurasian space.
This proposal was made by Putin in an article that he had written
for the Russian newspaper "Izvestia". According to him, the Customs
Union and Common Economic Space will serve as a base for the creation
of a Eurasian Union.
The reaction of post-Soviet countries is still unknown, but it is
clear that many leaders will try to exploit the situation in a bid
to get some privileges and concessions from both Moscow and Brussels.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych threatened to expel the Russian
Black Sea Fleet and to host NATO's missile defense system instead
unless Russia stops forcing it into joining the Customs Union.
Azerbaijan will refuse to further extend Russia's lease on the Gabala
radar station and will join the Nabucco gas pipeline project if Moscow
fails to put forward soon new proposals to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, said a diplomatic source in Baku.
Georgia continues to use its veto right to block Russia's entry into
the World Trade Organization and demanding that it makes concessions in
the form of the establishment of a Georgian monitoring at the Abkhazia
and South Ossetia borders. Tajikistan is also going to raise the rent
for the Russian military base.
And only Armenia does not advance any claims to Russia and does not
require a payment for the deployment of the Russian military base.
It is true that recently Armenia has made an unprecedented step of
inviting foreign investors to invest in energy and transport network in
Armenia. Currently, these networks are virtually a monopoly of Russian
companies, and an invitation to foreign investors can diversify the
economy of Armenia.
But the real competition between the West and Russia will take
place in the fuel sector. After nine years of planning, the Nabucco
gas pipeline consortium has submitted an application for exporting
Azerbaijani gas. But British Petroleum, the chief Western company
in the Caspian region, announced its version of the pipeline, which
it called more economically and politically reliable. Earlier, the
European Union supported the construction of the Southern Corridor,
which aims at increasing the degree of energy security in Europe by
opening the route, which will make it possible to supply natural gas
from the Caspian region, bypassing Russia.
Moscow is trying to increase its influence through the newly
constructed gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea, as well as through
the planned "South Stream" in the Black Sea.
In his speech at the Eastern Partnership summit Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan called for choosing a route that would not isolate
Armenia while also enriching Azerbaijan even more, as it is feared
that Azerbaijan may use its accumulated wealth to finance a new war
in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"It is not excluded that Putin will use his power and authority to
become the Caucasus Charles de Gaulle, promising his little southern
neighbors a great strategic reconciliation on the part of Russia,"
said Carnegie Endowment expert Thomas de Waal.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
http://www.armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/32158/european_partnership_russia_armenia
05.10.11 | 11:15
Two world centers, Europe and Russia, continue a 20-year effort to
absorb the former Soviet republics, including the South Caucasus.
After the European Union's Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw on
September 30 that was attended by the leaders or officials of six
former Soviet countries and during which a simplified visa regime
between these nations and the EU was suggested, Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin announced his intention to create a Eurasian space.
This proposal was made by Putin in an article that he had written
for the Russian newspaper "Izvestia". According to him, the Customs
Union and Common Economic Space will serve as a base for the creation
of a Eurasian Union.
The reaction of post-Soviet countries is still unknown, but it is
clear that many leaders will try to exploit the situation in a bid
to get some privileges and concessions from both Moscow and Brussels.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych threatened to expel the Russian
Black Sea Fleet and to host NATO's missile defense system instead
unless Russia stops forcing it into joining the Customs Union.
Azerbaijan will refuse to further extend Russia's lease on the Gabala
radar station and will join the Nabucco gas pipeline project if Moscow
fails to put forward soon new proposals to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, said a diplomatic source in Baku.
Georgia continues to use its veto right to block Russia's entry into
the World Trade Organization and demanding that it makes concessions in
the form of the establishment of a Georgian monitoring at the Abkhazia
and South Ossetia borders. Tajikistan is also going to raise the rent
for the Russian military base.
And only Armenia does not advance any claims to Russia and does not
require a payment for the deployment of the Russian military base.
It is true that recently Armenia has made an unprecedented step of
inviting foreign investors to invest in energy and transport network in
Armenia. Currently, these networks are virtually a monopoly of Russian
companies, and an invitation to foreign investors can diversify the
economy of Armenia.
But the real competition between the West and Russia will take
place in the fuel sector. After nine years of planning, the Nabucco
gas pipeline consortium has submitted an application for exporting
Azerbaijani gas. But British Petroleum, the chief Western company
in the Caspian region, announced its version of the pipeline, which
it called more economically and politically reliable. Earlier, the
European Union supported the construction of the Southern Corridor,
which aims at increasing the degree of energy security in Europe by
opening the route, which will make it possible to supply natural gas
from the Caspian region, bypassing Russia.
Moscow is trying to increase its influence through the newly
constructed gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea, as well as through
the planned "South Stream" in the Black Sea.
In his speech at the Eastern Partnership summit Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan called for choosing a route that would not isolate
Armenia while also enriching Azerbaijan even more, as it is feared
that Azerbaijan may use its accumulated wealth to finance a new war
in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"It is not excluded that Putin will use his power and authority to
become the Caucasus Charles de Gaulle, promising his little southern
neighbors a great strategic reconciliation on the part of Russia,"
said Carnegie Endowment expert Thomas de Waal.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress