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  Putin's Return to Kremlin Could Boost Eurasian Union Project
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ContributorJason 
Last EditedJason  Mar 09, 2012 12:52pm
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CategorySpeculative
News DateFriday, March 9, 2012 06:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionWhen Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin first announced his intention to return to the Kremlin back in the fall of 2011, one of the first programmatic articles that he published was devoted entirely to his vision of a "Eurasian Union."

"We suggest a powerful supranational association capable of becoming one of the poles in the modern world and of serving as an efficient bridge between Europe and the dynamic Asia-Pacific region," Putin wrote in Izvestia in October 2011.

Now that Putin is returning to the Kremlin for six more years - and possibly 12 - this priority project seems destined for a new infusion of energy. Behind the official congratulations that are pouring out of the capitals of the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are real concerns about whether closer integration can be achieved on an equitable footing.

The issue of CIS integration is clearly important for Putin. Just two weeks after the Izvestia article appeared, he hosted a meeting of prime ministers from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Ukraine in St. Petersburg and triumphantly announced an agreement to form a free-trade zone after years of fruitless negotiations.

"We are opening up our markets to each other, which means that goods will be brought to our markets at lower prices, which will in turn provide better conditions for starting new joint enterprises," Putin said. "All of this, of course, increases the competitiveness of all of our economies."
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