Russian Neo-Revisionism and Dilemmas of Eurasian Integration

Eurasian integration was the centrepiece of President Vladimir Putin’s third term in the Kremlin. His keynote article published in October 2011, a few months before the presidential election of 4 March 2014, emphasized the success of the Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which was completed on 1 July 2011, and the imminent creation on 1 January 2012 of the Single Economic Area with the three countries including standardized legislation and the free movement of capital, services and labour. Putin outlined plans for the enlargement of this project to encompass Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan (and Armenia) and its evolution into a Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and eventually a Eurasian Union (EaU). Putin insisted that the integrative dynamic in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was prompted in part by the challenge of the global economic crisis, but also reflected the needs and traditions of the region. The distinguishing feature of the envisaged Eurasian Union is the creation of supranational structures, including a much-enhanced Eurasian Economic Union Commission in which the four founding members (by now Armenia had joined) plus Kyrgyzstan would each have two commissioners with equal rights. Putin noted that it had taken 40 years to travel from the European Coal and Steel Community to the full-fledged European Union, a path that he suggested would be traversed far more quickly in Eurasia.