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ARMENIA JOINS RUSSIAN-BACKED CUSTOMS UNION
Europe Online Magazine
Sept 3 2013
Europe
By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Moscow (dpa) - Armenia has joined a Russian-dominated customs union,
joining fellow former Soviet republics Kazakhstan and Belarus as
members, reported Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan along with Russian
President Vladimir Putin after a meeting Tuesday.
Putin told the Itar-Tass news agency that he expected a "strong
impulse for mutually valuable economic development" now that the
southern Caucasus nation has joined.
Armenia is also apparently interested in helping set up a Eurasian
economic union. Putin would see such a group as a link between the
European Union and the Pacific region.
Russia maintains thousands of troops in Armenia. Armenia is also
economically dependent upon Russia, which is home to a million-strong
Armenian diaspora.
The three-member customs union was founded in 2010 as a counterweight
to the EU. Putin hopes to use economic pressure to get Ukraine to also
become a member, even though that country is seeking an association
agreement with the EU.
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/armenia-joins-russian-backed-customs-union_295439.html
Europe Online Magazine
Sept 3 2013
Europe
By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Moscow (dpa) - Armenia has joined a Russian-dominated customs union,
joining fellow former Soviet republics Kazakhstan and Belarus as
members, reported Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan along with Russian
President Vladimir Putin after a meeting Tuesday.
Putin told the Itar-Tass news agency that he expected a "strong
impulse for mutually valuable economic development" now that the
southern Caucasus nation has joined.
Armenia is also apparently interested in helping set up a Eurasian
economic union. Putin would see such a group as a link between the
European Union and the Pacific region.
Russia maintains thousands of troops in Armenia. Armenia is also
economically dependent upon Russia, which is home to a million-strong
Armenian diaspora.
The three-member customs union was founded in 2010 as a counterweight
to the EU. Putin hopes to use economic pressure to get Ukraine to also
become a member, even though that country is seeking an association
agreement with the EU.
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/armenia-joins-russian-backed-customs-union_295439.html