Eurasian integration is Russian foreign policy priority: Alexander Gusev

“EEU isn’t failed,” Alexander Gusev, Head of the Center of Strategic Development of CIS Countries, told during Moscow-Yerevan-Astana-Bishkek-Minsk telebridge, reflecting to perspectives for Eurasian integration.

Alexander Gusev said he’s bothered by the circumstance that media outlets, civil society representatives leave the impression that Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is being failed, and is living its last days, and that recent meeting in Bishkek showed that there is no common vision of EEU development.

“I should calm down everyone both media outlets and expert community representatives, stating that EEU isn’t being failed and is a priority for all EEU member countries.

If we observe Russian foreign policy for 2016, priorities both by CIS and EEU development are in top positions, and in those positions we stand in external, foreign economic policy. Relations with the EU hold the second place, then with the USA and China.

This isn’t accidental. It seems to me that here a rather serious ground is available for our future integration, we stand on our positions like before, where integration is a priority in the post-Soviet space, for us EEU, yet economic union, is a priority, and from this perspective we’re building our position toward all countries, which comprise a part of EEU both on the level of bilateral and multilateral relations, as what was done prior to this on EEU platform, was implemented for us, for our benefit and for the benefit of third countries, i.e. of countries not joining EEU.”

By Araks Martirosyan