By "Vestnik Kavkaza"
The magazine Foreign Affairs calls the Eurasian Economic Union which came into force on January 1st 2015 “a myth” and “a failure”. The author interprets the Eurasian Economic Union as an attempt to bring the former Soviet nations back together –both economically and politically – under the promise of “universally beneficial integration on equal terms”. This equilibrium, however, was unrealizable from the very beginning, primarily because Russia benefits from gross economic disparities among the EEU members, and secondly, because the absence of institutional infrastructure could be of help in realizing already-existing and possible economic potential. According to Foreign Affairs, it was the crisis in Ukraine that broke the fragile unity between members of the EEU. In spite of recently appearing signals from Minsk and Astana about the possibility of being more sympathetic towards the West, Foreign Affairs does not see Eurasian integration disappearing in the near future, since it remains a part of the political agenda of Lukashenko, Nazarbayev and Putin.
A news portal on insider information, Business Insider, published an article titled “Russia Just Made A Bold Move To Keep Its Gas Leverage On Europe”. The article states that Russia's recent announcement of its intention to shift natural gas pipelines to Europe via Turkey, and not via Ukraine, makes sense if one considers Russia's loss of control over the European gas market, as a result of recent warming in winter time. The author brings a number of arguments to claim that the epoch when Russia has been dominating the gas market is long gone, which creates an inevitable urge to seek new solutions and partnerships. This explains Russia's increasing interest in countries outside of Europe — for instance, China and India. Quoting Vladimir Putin, the article reports that Rosneft and Gazprom are preparing projects for the development of the Russian Arctic and the expansion of liquefied gas with their Indian colleagues.
Politico Magazine writes about lobbying in Russia in the material “Putin's Washington” on the example of the story of the PR agency Ketchum, which failed to succeed on the market due to Russian realities of business ethics, in spite of having powerful lobbying in their support. “Given the current geopolitical environment, this is a challenging time to promote economic development for Russia and as a result we do not have any activity planned in the U.S,” a Ketchum representative said.
Project Syndicate published an article on “Putin’s Scare Tactics" analysing the peculiarities of the political behavior of Russia's oligarchs and businessmen, their attitude towards Vladimir Putin in the situation of “stifling of non-governmental organizations, repression of independent media, and silencing of opposition voices.” It is claimed in the article that Russian political culture is characterized by obedience (that should be understood in historical terms and for historical reasons), together with a concern for private benefit. This is why both the absence of independent media and the recent pursuit of the opposition have not caused continual open confrontation with the authorities. However, according to Project Syndicate, every population stratum in Russia feels the consequences of the country’s foreign policy. The only difference is in the kind of leverage: if for oligarchs it is the business they might lose in case of “misbehavior”, ordinary people are risking their “pensions, salaries, and social services.”
