Putin proposes to set up EU-like ex-Soviet bloc
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has reportedly offered to include former Soviet republics in a Eurasia body that would be similar not to the USSR, but the European Union.
The prospective union will not be a replacement for the CIS, but an effective link between Europe and the Asia Pacific region, an association with close coordination of the economic and currency policies, Putin wrote in his article carried by Russian newspaper Izvestiya (News).
Putin wrote that the customs union and the common economic space being established by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will underlie a future Eurasian union.
"It is an open project," the premier said, adding that "other partners are welcome to join it."
The CIS, a loose association of former Soviet republics, consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Ukraine has not ratified the CIS Charter but participates in its activities.
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia formed their own Customs Union earlier this year, scrapping interstate customs tariffs.
Putin is said to stand a high chance of winning Russia’s presidential election in March 2012.
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