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ARMENIA WINS BACKING TO JOIN TRADE BLOC CHAMPIONED BY PUTIN
The New York Times
Dec 10 2014
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORNDEC. 10, 2014
MOSCOW -- Russia's lower house of Parliament voted unanimously on
Wednesday to approve a treaty allowing Armenia to join a trade bloc of
former Soviet states that President Vladimir V. Putin has championed
as an alternative to the European Union.
The bloc, now called the Eurasian Economic Union, already includes
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, with Armenia and Kyrgyzstan on the
path to membership. Mr. Putin envisions it as a counterweight to
the European Union and a better guarantor of the region's economic
interests.
Tensions have emerged in recent months, however, as Russia has come
under economic pressure as a result of sanctions imposed by the West
over the Kremlin's intervention in Ukraine.
Russia's mounting economic worries, including a steep decline in the
ruble and a simultaneous slide in global oil prices, have weighed on
its closest trading partners, particularly Belarus.
The Russian authorities late last month banned the transit of
Western products from Belarus through Russia to other countries,
including Kazakhstan, partly out of concern that such shipments were
being used to violate Russia's retaliatory sanctions against Europe,
which prohibit the import of most European agricultural products.
Belarus has since stepped up inspections in a bid to persuade Russia
to ease the restrictions. But the Belarussian president, Aleksandr G.
Lukashenko, has declared publicly that Belarus would not impose
restrictions that will break existing agreements with Western
suppliers.
"We cannot ban transit of goods to other countries through the
Belarussian territory; this is a violation of all the norms of
international law," he said at a recent government meeting. "If Russia
does not want any goods to go through it by transit to Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, China, Mongolia, Turkey, then it should ban this transit."
Russia has expressed concerns that some truck shipments purportedly
destined for Kazakhstan, including frozen meat, have been unloaded
instead in Russia. Some Russian officials have also raised suspicions
that banned European goods are being repackaged in Belarus and sold
in Russia as Belarussian products, which Belarus has denied.
The tensions over the extent to which Belarus and Kazakhstan are
willing to support Russia in its conflict with the West over Ukraine
have raised questions about the longer-term viability of the Eurasian
Economic Union. Belarus and Kazakhstan must also ratify the treaty
allowing Armenia to enter the bloc.
Armenia, like Ukraine, had been working toward closer political and
economic relations with the European Union, including steps toward
a new free-trade accord.
That all changed abruptly in September 2013 as Russia stepped up
efforts to thwart a European Union program aimed at strengthening
ties with former Soviet republics. After a meeting in Moscow that
September with Mr. Putin, the Armenian president, Serzh Sargsyan,
announced that he was abandoning the European talks and that his
country would join Russia's economic bloc instead.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
His decision set off some protests in Yerevan, the Armenian capital,
but the country ultimately had little choice as it is heavily dependent
on Russia for economic and security assistance. The value to Armenia
of joining the trade bloc has been questioned, in part because the
country shares no common border with any of the other member countries.
The European Union has been Armenia's main trading partner. Its economy
is severely hamstrung because borders with two of its neighbors, Turkey
and Azerbaijan, are sealed as a result of longstanding conflicts.
Commercial activity with its southern neighbor, Iran, has been
restricted because of international sanctions over that country's
efforts to develop its nuclear program. That leaves only the northern
border with Georgia fully open for trade.
In remarks before the vote in the State Duma, Russia's lower chamber
of Parliament, the speaker, Sergei Naryshkin, compared the economic
benefits of the Eurasian Economic Union with what he described as
the toxic results of Ukraine's closer ties with Europe.
"In one case, that which we are discussing with you today, Eurasian
integration is proceeding with utmost mutual respect, understanding
of the economic interests and national traditions of partners," Mr.
Naryshkin said, according to Russian news services. "And in another
case, as with our brotherly Ukraine, it is going on ignoring economic
interests, national interests of the state, with violence, ruin,
and even the loss of human life."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/world/europe/armenia-russia-eurasian-economic-union.html?_r=0
From: A. Papazian
The New York Times
Dec 10 2014
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORNDEC. 10, 2014
MOSCOW -- Russia's lower house of Parliament voted unanimously on
Wednesday to approve a treaty allowing Armenia to join a trade bloc of
former Soviet states that President Vladimir V. Putin has championed
as an alternative to the European Union.
The bloc, now called the Eurasian Economic Union, already includes
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, with Armenia and Kyrgyzstan on the
path to membership. Mr. Putin envisions it as a counterweight to
the European Union and a better guarantor of the region's economic
interests.
Tensions have emerged in recent months, however, as Russia has come
under economic pressure as a result of sanctions imposed by the West
over the Kremlin's intervention in Ukraine.
Russia's mounting economic worries, including a steep decline in the
ruble and a simultaneous slide in global oil prices, have weighed on
its closest trading partners, particularly Belarus.
The Russian authorities late last month banned the transit of
Western products from Belarus through Russia to other countries,
including Kazakhstan, partly out of concern that such shipments were
being used to violate Russia's retaliatory sanctions against Europe,
which prohibit the import of most European agricultural products.
Belarus has since stepped up inspections in a bid to persuade Russia
to ease the restrictions. But the Belarussian president, Aleksandr G.
Lukashenko, has declared publicly that Belarus would not impose
restrictions that will break existing agreements with Western
suppliers.
"We cannot ban transit of goods to other countries through the
Belarussian territory; this is a violation of all the norms of
international law," he said at a recent government meeting. "If Russia
does not want any goods to go through it by transit to Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, China, Mongolia, Turkey, then it should ban this transit."
Russia has expressed concerns that some truck shipments purportedly
destined for Kazakhstan, including frozen meat, have been unloaded
instead in Russia. Some Russian officials have also raised suspicions
that banned European goods are being repackaged in Belarus and sold
in Russia as Belarussian products, which Belarus has denied.
The tensions over the extent to which Belarus and Kazakhstan are
willing to support Russia in its conflict with the West over Ukraine
have raised questions about the longer-term viability of the Eurasian
Economic Union. Belarus and Kazakhstan must also ratify the treaty
allowing Armenia to enter the bloc.
Armenia, like Ukraine, had been working toward closer political and
economic relations with the European Union, including steps toward
a new free-trade accord.
That all changed abruptly in September 2013 as Russia stepped up
efforts to thwart a European Union program aimed at strengthening
ties with former Soviet republics. After a meeting in Moscow that
September with Mr. Putin, the Armenian president, Serzh Sargsyan,
announced that he was abandoning the European talks and that his
country would join Russia's economic bloc instead.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
His decision set off some protests in Yerevan, the Armenian capital,
but the country ultimately had little choice as it is heavily dependent
on Russia for economic and security assistance. The value to Armenia
of joining the trade bloc has been questioned, in part because the
country shares no common border with any of the other member countries.
The European Union has been Armenia's main trading partner. Its economy
is severely hamstrung because borders with two of its neighbors, Turkey
and Azerbaijan, are sealed as a result of longstanding conflicts.
Commercial activity with its southern neighbor, Iran, has been
restricted because of international sanctions over that country's
efforts to develop its nuclear program. That leaves only the northern
border with Georgia fully open for trade.
In remarks before the vote in the State Duma, Russia's lower chamber
of Parliament, the speaker, Sergei Naryshkin, compared the economic
benefits of the Eurasian Economic Union with what he described as
the toxic results of Ukraine's closer ties with Europe.
"In one case, that which we are discussing with you today, Eurasian
integration is proceeding with utmost mutual respect, understanding
of the economic interests and national traditions of partners," Mr.
Naryshkin said, according to Russian news services. "And in another
case, as with our brotherly Ukraine, it is going on ignoring economic
interests, national interests of the state, with violence, ruin,
and even the loss of human life."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/world/europe/armenia-russia-eurasian-economic-union.html?_r=0
From: A. Papazian