http://www.smh.com.au/world/russia-kaza ... zrsof.html
Last year people were predicting the Eurasian Union would be screwed over due to Ukraine signing an EU Association Agreement.Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus form Eurasian Economic Union
Date
May 30, 2014
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Abigail Hauslohner
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin moved on Thursday to further bolster his nation's ties to former Soviet republics, as Russia's relationships with the United States and Europe continue to fray over the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr Putin met with his counterparts from Kazakhstan and Belarus in the Kazakh capital of Astana to initiate the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. Mr Putin has long sought to form the bloc in the hope that it would provide an Eastern counterweight to economic and political powerhouses such as the European Union and the United States.
The new codes of the union, scheduled for launch on January 1, will give the citizens of member states equal employment and education opportunities across all three nations. The three presidents also said the deal would involve collaborative policies on key sectors, including energy, technology, industry, agriculture and transport.
"A new geoeconomic reality of the 21st century is being born today," Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. The deal, 20 years in the making, was "a hard-won achievement", he said, and "a blessing for our people".
"It's your success, if not to say triumph," Mr Putin told Mr Nazarbayev, according to Interfax.
Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev told reporters in Astana that the three countries had not yet discussed the possibility of instituting a single currency, Interfax said.
Meanwhile, Russia's regional moves continue to spur anxiety. Poland's ambassador to the US, Ryszard Schnepf, told reporters in Washington on Thursday his country is 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," Alexey Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow Centre, said. "That's a big deal, because without modernisation and real economic reforms, what does it mean, this union?"
But the idea of a Eurasian union has become particularly attractive to the Kremlin in recent months, as the crisis in Ukraine has sent US-Russian relations tumbling to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Western powers have levelled sanctions against key Russian figures linked to the country's annexation of Ukraine's autonomous Crimea region two months ago, and broader sanctions may be on the way.
In March, 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 powerful influence.
Mr Putin has denied any intention to annex former Soviet republics, even though Moscow has supported pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and other former Soviet lands.
And Mr Putin said other countries were scrambling to join the Eurasian Union. The participants discussed Armenia's potential membership during their meeting. But 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 crisis in Ukraine has made it "clear" that the Eurasian union is largely "a tool for Russia to realise its political goals", he said. And for other would-be members, the sanctions have cast a pall over the entire union.
Still, 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, commanding new attention on the world stage, increasingly popular. And, thus, so is the concept underpinning the Eurasian Economic Union.
Mr Putin has called the break-up of the Soviet Union the greatest tragedy in Russian history, and many Russians echo that rhetoric.
Inspired in part by mostly pro-Kremlin local media, Russians say they see value in the kind of strength and intimidating presence embodied by the Soviet Union, and they express support for Mr Putin's efforts to demonstrate that strength abroad.
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/ ... astle-9042
Now I think this is mainly to help further Russia's geopolitical goals that is influence in the former Soviet Republics which Putin considers Russia's sphere of influence. It will have more control over energy sources, strengthening the Kremlin's hand.
From what I gather in the other thread, Russia alone could devastate Europe quite well in a conventional attack. The Eurasian Union as it stands doesn't give Russia that much breathing space nor add much to its military power.
In economic terms, aside from energy I don't think it will do much. Those economies are not big. Russia is the only "major" economy in the Eurasian Union and its growth is anaemic at best. Unless Putin gets a large economy like China to join (why would it) in the economic sphere it won't punch a lot. Kazakhstan and Belarus combine barely add $300 billion USD in GDP, which would make the Eurasian Union smaller than any of the 3 largest EU countries in GDP (Germany, France, UK).
