The Eurasian Union And Russia’s Policy Towards Eastern Europe And Central Asia

Since the collapse of the USSR, various initiatives seeking to integrate the newly independent republics into some kind of post-Soviet successor have been launched. However, these attempts failed to make much success. Due to their weak institutional framework of these initiatives, member states expressed low level of commitment, which resulted in that these regional regimes were ineffective in binding domestic actors and institutions. Eurasian Economic Union is called to change this situation. Proposed by Vladimir Putin, this is the most ambitious attempt so far of the economic integration in the post-Soviet space. The Customs Union formed by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in2007, and the subsequent Common Economic Space in2012, have already brought partial economic integration between the three states and appear to be more viable. The Eurasian Economic Union is a next level of integration after the Customs Union and aims to include all CIS states. Eurasian Union is partially modelled on the European Union, which is considered to be a future partner, along with other key regional players such as the US and China. Contradictory narratives of the Western world and Russia regarding the motives of creation of this Economic Union rise the questions related to its nature. Is that a new Russia’s Power grab, and return to imperialism, or is that an absolutely practical, functionalist approach to integrate with the neighbors. In my research I explored the incentives of the driving forces of this integration process and conclude that the second assumption to be more as a case, however bringing the evidence in support of both.