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Putin: Time for 'Eurasian Union'

'Economic and currency' alliance wouldn't be new USSR: prime minister

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 4, 2011 4:11 PM CDT

(Newser) – Russia’s former—and likely next—president wants to join former Soviet countries in a “Eurasian Union.” The entity would be rooted in Russia’s Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, to allow labor, capital, and trade to flow freely among the countries beginning next year, Reuters notes. But “we are not going to stop there,” the current prime minister writes. His “ambitious goal”: to “achieve an even higher integration level in the Eurasian Union.”

The Eurasian Union would link member nations’ “economic and currency policy,” but it wouldn’t be a new Soviet Union, he says. “It would be naive to attempt to restore or copy something from the past.” Putin cites “difficulties” within other attempts at international trade cooperation, including the World Trade Organization. Still, unions like the European Union and NAFTA are “'bricks'” that “can assemble into a more stable global economy,” he writes.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.   (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Yana Lapikova, Pool)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 21 comments
lvan
Oct 6, 2011 6:17 AM CDT
Strong leaders have a vision, weak have excuses. My personal opinion is irrelevant.
yorkshire
Oct 5, 2011 2:31 AM CDT
Mr Putin has never stopped being in charge,was just forced to do it from a back seat for a few years.he is a very dangerous man
JoeQ
Oct 4, 2011 11:32 PM CDT
Vlad the Employer

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