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Russia's Putin promotes 'Eurasian Union' in rare article
20:23 - 04.10.11
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for the unification of
post-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article published
Tuesday on the announcement of his planned return to the Kremlin.
According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Putin's article in the Izvestia
daily outlining a grand project to integrate post-Soviet states into
closer cooperation comes five months before polls that can put him at
the helm of foreign policy decisions for at least six years.
The front-page piece, titled "New Eurasian integration project: a
future that begins today", sings praises to Russia's economic
integration with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
But, Putin writes, "we set a more ambitious goal to go to the next,
higher level of integration - the Eurasian Union," which would "build
on the experience of the European Union and other regional
coalitions."
Russia has pursued for several years closer economic cooperation with
ex-Soviet partners, forming a customs union with Belarus and
Kazakhstan in 2009 and later developing it into what it calls a
unified economic zone.
Putin called the project a "historic breakthrough" for all post-Soviet
states, which would break barriers for business dealings as well as
people looking for a job.
"The idea is not to recreate the Soviet Union in some form," Putin
writes, adding that the Eurasian Union would combine human and
economic capital of its members to "ensure the stability of global
development."
The political potential of this project, said Putin, is to "create
real conditions to change the geopolitical and geoeconomic
configuration of the entire continent and have an undoubtedly positive
global effect."
The plan to create a Eurasian Union raises questions as to Russia's
future within the World Trade Organisation, which has been a permanent
issue on the foreign policy agenda of President Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia is the biggest economy still outside the trade organisation,
and has pursued membership for many years.
Tert.am
20:23 - 04.10.11
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for the unification of
post-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article published
Tuesday on the announcement of his planned return to the Kremlin.
According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Putin's article in the Izvestia
daily outlining a grand project to integrate post-Soviet states into
closer cooperation comes five months before polls that can put him at
the helm of foreign policy decisions for at least six years.
The front-page piece, titled "New Eurasian integration project: a
future that begins today", sings praises to Russia's economic
integration with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
But, Putin writes, "we set a more ambitious goal to go to the next,
higher level of integration - the Eurasian Union," which would "build
on the experience of the European Union and other regional
coalitions."
Russia has pursued for several years closer economic cooperation with
ex-Soviet partners, forming a customs union with Belarus and
Kazakhstan in 2009 and later developing it into what it calls a
unified economic zone.
Putin called the project a "historic breakthrough" for all post-Soviet
states, which would break barriers for business dealings as well as
people looking for a job.
"The idea is not to recreate the Soviet Union in some form," Putin
writes, adding that the Eurasian Union would combine human and
economic capital of its members to "ensure the stability of global
development."
The political potential of this project, said Putin, is to "create
real conditions to change the geopolitical and geoeconomic
configuration of the entire continent and have an undoubtedly positive
global effect."
The plan to create a Eurasian Union raises questions as to Russia's
future within the World Trade Organisation, which has been a permanent
issue on the foreign policy agenda of President Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia is the biggest economy still outside the trade organisation,
and has pursued membership for many years.
Tert.am