It appears Moscow doesn’t make partners choose between EU and EEU

By Vestnik Kavkaza

According to the minister for foreign affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov, the Customs Union and the common economic area rely on universal integration principles and take the path which was passed during establishing the EU, using European experience. “It was natural to take the course on harmonization of relations between the EU and the developing Eurasian Union with all due respect to the right of any country to choose priorities,” Lavrov noted.

These ideas were developed by the head of the State Duma Committee on the CIS Affairs, Eurasian integration, and Compatriots, Leonid Slutsky. According to him, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is a strong regional player which confirmed its potential efficiency through its initial organizations – CU and the common economic area. Slutsky says that “the Eastern Partnership is treated ambiguously on the post-Soviet space. The authorities of Azerbaijan said their firm “No” to the Eastern Partnership and its expansion. Armenia sees its development both toward integration with the EU and integration with the CU. Ukraine and Moldova prefer European integration today. However, we shouldn’t diabolize these things. European and Eurasian integrations do not contradict each other. Mathematicians would say that they are collinear; they can be combined. European integration it a part of global integration processes on the Eurasian continent. At the same time, old Europe is a continent with older traditions and studying integration opportunities has been started here long ago. So, the integration processes, including establishing of the EU, were started here several decades earlier. But in the scales of history this is nothing.”

Slutsky didn’t hide that Moscow is concerned about Ukraine in this context: “There are many discussions over the upcoming Vilnius summit of the Eastern Partnership and upcoming initialing of the association agreement with the EU by Ukraine. The questions of further development of Ukraine in the free trade area with the EU and us, Ukraine’s membership in the EU or the CU are key problems of the current agenda… Of course it will be difficult to combine the agreement on free trade area with the EU and the same treaty with Russia. However, Ukraine is still our key partner. Historically we are doomed to have friendly relations… The question on Ukraine’s participation in the Eurasian project is still open. I hope that Ukraine will join it in the upcoming future, notwithstanding its development toward European integration; they don’t contradict each other… We will cooperate with Ukraine anyway, and do it constructively and tightly.”