Eurasian Customs Union

[Mher]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Armenia economist: EEU single currency is foolish
14.03.2015


YEREVAN. – The use of a single currency within the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is foolish, Armenian economist Ashot Yeghiazaryan noted at a press conference on Saturday.

In his view, Russia has neither the economic nor the economic strength to make its currency—the ruble—a reserve, even for the EEU member states (Armenia, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan).

“Russia is unable to become the financial partner of Armenia. Our [, Armenia’s,] main creditors are the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, etc., which work with the [US] dollar,” Yeghiazaryan stressed. “If we switch to the ruble, or another Eurasian currency, and if our Central Bank begins to keep its funds in that currency, discrepancies will arise between the currency loans, and our entire microeconomics will deviate.”

In addition, as per the economist, the EEU countries need to have shared macroeconomic parameters to be able to switch to a single currency.

To note, Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently instructed the Russian Central Bank to start working on a single currency for the Eurasian Economic Union.

I agree. In the past year the AMD has outperformed the ruble by a wide margin. It's foolish to tie yourself to what at the moment is a sinking ship

Also, the main reason Russia wants this is to increase influence and dominance over the union. For leaving the union to be much more difficult if Armenia choses to do this. similar to EU and the euro

[Vrej1915]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Armenia economist: EEU single currency is foolish
14.03.2015


YEREVAN. – The use of a single currency within the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is foolish, Armenian economist Ashot Yeghiazaryan noted at a press conference on Saturday.

In his view, Russia has neither the economic nor the economic strength to make its currency—the ruble—a reserve, even for the EEU member states (Armenia, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan).

“Russia is unable to become the financial partner of Armenia. Our [, Armenia’s,] main creditors are the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, etc., which work with the [US] dollar,” Yeghiazaryan stressed. “If we switch to the ruble, or another Eurasian currency, and if our Central Bank begins to keep its funds in that currency, discrepancies will arise between the currency loans, and our entire microeconomics will deviate.”

In addition, as per the economist, the EEU countries need to have shared macroeconomic parameters to be able to switch to a single currency.

To note, Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently instructed the Russian Central Bank to start working on a single currency for the Eurasian Economic Union.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Ղազախ քաղաքագետ. Ղարաբաղում պատերազմի դեպքում Ղազախստանը չի օգնի Հայաստանին
20.03.2015

http://news.am/arm/news/258074.html

Եթե աստված չանի, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղում պատերազմ սկսվի, Ղազախստանի բանակը անգամ ՀԱՊԿ շրջանակներում չի օգնի հայկական կողմին։ Այս մասին մարտի 20-ին առցանց մամուլի ասուլիսի ժամանակ հայտարարեց ղազախ քաղաքագետ Այդոս Սարըմը։

Հարցին, թե ԵՏՄ անդամ դարձած Հայաստանը կարո՞ղ է արդյոք Ղարաբաղյան հակամարտության կարգավորման հարցում ակնկալել Ղազախստանի օգնությունը՝ որպես ՀԱՊԿ անդամ, քաղաքագետը պատասխանել է. «Շատ եմ կասկածում։ Շարքային ղազախները ավելի շուտ կամավոր կգնան Ադրբեջանում կռվելու։ ՀԱՊԿ-ը սեփական ՆԱՏՕ-ն ստեղծելու Ռուսաստանի փորձն է։ Ոչ ավել, ոչ պակաս։ Սակայն ՀԱՊԿ-ը նույն հեռանկարներն ունի, ինչ ԵՏՄ-ն։ Իսկ Հայաստանում շատերը միամտաբար կարծում են, թե ՀԱՊԿ-ը Հայաստանին կպաշտպանի Ադրբեջանից։ Հայաստանի եւ Ռուսաստանի հարաբերությունները այո, բայց ՀԱԿՊ-ը կեղծիք է»,- հավելել է նա։

--------

Kazakh expert: Army of Kazakhstan will not help Armenia
20.03.2015

http://news.am/eng/news/258074.html

YEREVAN. – Even if there is war for Nagorno-Karabakh, God forbid, even within CSTO the army of Kazakhstan will not help Armenia, Kazakh political analyst Aydos Sraim said during online press conference on Friday.

Asked whether Armenia as a member of Eurasian Economic Union, should expect assistance from CSTO member state Kazakhstan, Sarim said: “I strongly doubt it. Ordinary Kazakhs are likely to fight as volunteers in Azerbaijan.”

CSTO is Russia's attempt to create its own NATO, he said.

“But the CSTO will have the same perspective as the EAEC. Many in Armenia naively believe that the CSTO will defend Armenia from Azerbaijan. Armenia's relations with Russia is one thing, but the CSTO is fiction,” he added.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

[Vrej1915]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Մեզ խաբել են, տղե'րք

23.01.2015

Հիշո՞ւմ եք` ինչու մտանք Եվրասիական տնտեսական միություն, բացի 170 միլիոնանոց շուկային միանալուց:

Բացի, իհարկե, հայ-ռուսական, հայ-բելառուսական, հայ-ղազախական դարավոր, բարեկամական, եղբայրական կապերից (հատկապես` վառ արտահայտված հայ-ղազախական կապերում), էլ ինչո՞ւ մտանք, ամենակարեւոր պատճառը ո՞րն էր` համենայն դեպս, ըստ պաշտոնական բարձրաձայնված վարկածի:

Եթե հիշում եք` մենք որոշում կայացրեցինք մտնել ԵՏՄ, առաջին հերթին` հաշվի առնելով մեր անվտանգությունը: Եթե մոռացել եք, ապա հիշեցնենք նաեւ, որ այս տարվա հունվարի 2-ից մենք պաշտոնապես ԵՏՄ անդամ ենք,:

Սա նշանակում է, մեզ այդպես ասում էին, որ մեր անվտանգության մակարդակը անհամեմատ ավելի բարձր չափանիշների պետք է հասնի, այլ կերպ ասած` մեզ վրա կրակողն այսուհետ կրակում է 170 միլիոնանոց շուկայի վրա: Բայց ի՞նչ ենք տեսնում այս օրերին` ճիշտ հունվարի 2-ից հետո սահմանին` արդեն 10 զոհ:

Մենք 10 զոհ ունենք, տղե'րք, 10 զոհ՝ մեկ ամսում: Սա պատերա՞զմ է, եթե` ոչ, ապա ինչո՞ւ այսքան զոհ, եթե` այո, մենք ի՞նչ ենք անում` այստեղ նստած` գրիչները ձեռքներիս… Ուրեմն մեզ խաբում են, խաբել են եւ բոլոր կողմերից: Նախ` ԵՏՄ մտնելիս, քանի որ մեր անվտանգության մակարդակը չբարձրացավ, Մոսկվան, Մինսկը, Աստանան խորապես թքած ունեն 170 միլիոնանոց շուկայի մաս կազմող Հայաստանի քաղաքացիների ուղղությամբ արձակված մահացու կրակոցների վրա:
Հակառակորդը դիվերսիոն ներթափանցման փորձեր է անում ՀՀ Տավուշի մարզ, բայց լուռ է նաեւ Հայաստանի տարածքային ամբողջականություն պահպանման հարցը օրակարգում ունեցող ՀԱՊԿ կոչեցյալ «կոնտորան»:

Մեր ապրանքներն արագընթաց գնացքներով ԵՏՄ անդամ երկրներ առանց մաքսատուրքերի չեն գնում, տղե'րք, եւ այնտեղից մեզ մոտ նույն արագությամբ ապրանքներ չեն գալիս:

Փակ է Հայաստանի` ԵՏՄ տանող միակ ցամաքային ճանապարհը` Լարսը: Մեզ, փաստորեն, խաբել են, տղե'րք:

Մենք 10 զոհ ունենք… Թշնամին էլ ունի, բայց թո'ղ մարդասիրություն չլինի` դա կարեւոր չէ, տղե'րք: Հովիկ ԱՖՅԱՆ

Մանրամասները` yerkir.am կայքում:

[Artashes]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Azerbaijan Snubs the West

By JOSHUA KUCERAJAN. 8, 2015

On Dec. 26, authorities in Azerbaijan raided the local bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a U.S. government-funded service, seizing computers and ordering the office shut down. Earlier that month, police had arrested Khadija Ismayilova, a RFE/RL reporter and the country’s most prominent investigative journalist, on dubious charges of inciting someone to commit suicide. (The alleged victim has since recanted the accusation, but Ms. Ismayilova remains in jail.)

These events have been reported abroad largely as marking a further constriction in Azerbaijan’s already tiny space for alternative points of view. And they are that. But they also suggest a dramatic change in the geopolitics of the volatile Caspian Sea region: the Azerbaijani government’s growing hostility toward Washington.

Azerbaijan is in a prime location, wedged between Russia and Iran on the oil- and gas-rich Caspian Sea. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been a strong partner of the United States. It has worked with Washington to break Russia’s energy monopoly in the region by supporting the construction of oil and gas pipelines to Turkey. It is a key transit point for military cargo to and from Afghanistan. And the government in Baku has forged close ties with Israel, based primarily on the trade of weaponry and oil.

A 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable described Azerbaijan’s foreign policy as characterized by “pragmatism, restraint and a helpful bias toward integration with the West.” Baku’s orientation toward the West was always in service of two priorities: maintaining its grip on power and taking back the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan lost to ethnic Armenian separatists in the early 1990s. But as Russia’s dramatic new foreign policy changes the strategic landscape across Eurasia, Baku appears to be recalculating whether its ties to the West really are advancing its own goals.

The attack on RFE/RL followed months of extreme anti-Western rhetoric. Top Azerbaijani government officials have accused the United States ambassador to Baku of “gross interference” and former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden of being an American spy. In early December, the president's chief of staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, published a 13,000-word article claiming that the C.I.A. was contriving regime changes in the post-Soviet space (the so-called color revolutions). It also called Azerbaijan’s human rights activists a “fifth column” of the United States.

The dominant criticism is that Washington, acting through NGOs and human rights groups, is trying to destabilize the Azerbaijani government. In fact, human rights activists have criticized American and European governments for being too soft on Baku. Washington has called the raid on RFE/RL merely “cause for concern.” In spite of Azerbaijan’s dismal human rights record, it has been awarded prestige projects like the chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in 2014, and it will be hosting the European Games this summer.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story

Anti-American rhetoric from Baku is not unheard of, but its recent intensity, seemingly unprompted, and its reliance on Kremlin talking points suggest a shift toward Moscow.

Russia has a collective security agreement with Armenia, maintains a large military base there and provides the country with discounted weaponry. It’s never been clear how Russia might intervene in a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, but Baku’s repudiation of America makes Russia less inclined to get involved in a fight against Azerbaijan.

The United States, for its part, will never intervene militarily on Azerbaijan’s side. And the payoff for Baku of putting up with Washington’s hectoring on democracy and human rights shrinks as the West loses influence worldwide. It’s a measure of the Azerbaijani government’s disdain of Washington that the raid on RFE/RL was conducted just days after Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with President Ilham Aliyev on the phone.

In an interview in December, Ali Hasanov, a top presidential adviser, was asked why the government began to so sharply criticize the United States but not Iran or Russia. “Because they don’t criticize us, that’s why,” he said. “Russia, Iran, and China, too, deal with us on the basis of noninterference in our internal affairs.”

Washington, meanwhile, increasingly judges partner nations according to their opposition to Russia. At her confirmation hearing in September, the new United States ambassador to Uzbekistan — one of the most repressive governments on the planet — praised the country as “an increasingly important partner,” thanks to “its deliberate, reliable resistance to Russian pressure.” Azerbaijan’s mimicry of Russian rhetoric and rapprochement with Moscow is an implicit threat to Washington: Give us what we want, or we’ll go over to Russia.

The United States doesn’t need to give in to this blackmail. Yes, the stakes are high: As Washington works to isolate Russia economically, Azerbaijani natural gas has become an even more important alternative to Russian gas for European customers. And Baku’s geopolitical shift could upset the fragile balance that has kept tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh from turning into a full-scale war.

But it would be short-sighted for Washington to sacrifice its principles just to shore up support against Russia. Moscow’s current geopolitical moment is only temporary. While the pro-Russia forces in Baku appear to be ascendant for the time being, other powerful blocs favor closer ties to the West.

Failing to stand up for human rights and democracy, including the rights of its own RFE/RL, would make the United States look weak and sap its supporters. Expecting to be arrested, Ms. Ismayilova herself asked foreign governments to speak loudly in defense of the dozens of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. “I don’t believe in human rights advocacy behind closed doors,” she wrote. “People of my country need to know that human rights are supported.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/o...west.html?_r=0

---- (people) of my country need to know human rights are supported ----
Is she talking about the Udi or Talsh ? Certainly not the Armenians.
When one speaks of human rights (exclusivly) for their own family, then human rights has been perverted to mean the rights of tatars.
One sees this perversion both east & west of Hayastan.
The thieving murderers want basic rights for themselves but do not want to be held accountable for their thieving murders or torture or abductions.
Sounds like standard tatar turc crap.

[Mher]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Azerbaijan Snubs the West

By JOSHUA KUCERAJAN. 8, 2015

On Dec. 26, authorities in Azerbaijan raided the local bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a U.S. government-funded service, seizing computers and ordering the office shut down. Earlier that month, police had arrested Khadija Ismayilova, a RFE/RL reporter and the country’s most prominent investigative journalist, on dubious charges of inciting someone to commit suicide. (The alleged victim has since recanted the accusation, but Ms. Ismayilova remains in jail.)

These events have been reported abroad largely as marking a further constriction in Azerbaijan’s already tiny space for alternative points of view. And they are that. But they also suggest a dramatic change in the geopolitics of the volatile Caspian Sea region: the Azerbaijani government’s growing hostility toward Washington.

Azerbaijan is in a prime location, wedged between Russia and Iran on the oil- and gas-rich Caspian Sea. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been a strong partner of the United States. It has worked with Washington to break Russia’s energy monopoly in the region by supporting the construction of oil and gas pipelines to Turkey. It is a key transit point for military cargo to and from Afghanistan. And the government in Baku has forged close ties with Israel, based primarily on the trade of weaponry and oil.

A 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable described Azerbaijan’s foreign policy as characterized by “pragmatism, restraint and a helpful bias toward integration with the West.” Baku’s orientation toward the West was always in service of two priorities: maintaining its grip on power and taking back the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan lost to ethnic Armenian separatists in the early 1990s. But as Russia’s dramatic new foreign policy changes the strategic landscape across Eurasia, Baku appears to be recalculating whether its ties to the West really are advancing its own goals.

The attack on RFE/RL followed months of extreme anti-Western rhetoric. Top Azerbaijani government officials have accused the United States ambassador to Baku of “gross interference” and former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden of being an American spy. In early December, the president's chief of staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, published a 13,000-word article claiming that the C.I.A. was contriving regime changes in the post-Soviet space (the so-called color revolutions). It also called Azerbaijan’s human rights activists a “fifth column” of the United States.

The dominant criticism is that Washington, acting through NGOs and human rights groups, is trying to destabilize the Azerbaijani government. In fact, human rights activists have criticized American and European governments for being too soft on Baku. Washington has called the raid on RFE/RL merely “cause for concern.” In spite of Azerbaijan’s dismal human rights record, it has been awarded prestige projects like the chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in 2014, and it will be hosting the European Games this summer.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story

Anti-American rhetoric from Baku is not unheard of, but its recent intensity, seemingly unprompted, and its reliance on Kremlin talking points suggest a shift toward Moscow.

Russia has a collective security agreement with Armenia, maintains a large military base there and provides the country with discounted weaponry. It’s never been clear how Russia might intervene in a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, but Baku’s repudiation of America makes Russia less inclined to get involved in a fight against Azerbaijan.

The United States, for its part, will never intervene militarily on Azerbaijan’s side. And the payoff for Baku of putting up with Washington’s hectoring on democracy and human rights shrinks as the West loses influence worldwide. It’s a measure of the Azerbaijani government’s disdain of Washington that the raid on RFE/RL was conducted just days after Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with President Ilham Aliyev on the phone.

In an interview in December, Ali Hasanov, a top presidential adviser, was asked why the government began to so sharply criticize the United States but not Iran or Russia. “Because they don’t criticize us, that’s why,” he said. “Russia, Iran, and China, too, deal with us on the basis of noninterference in our internal affairs.”

Washington, meanwhile, increasingly judges partner nations according to their opposition to Russia. At her confirmation hearing in September, the new United States ambassador to Uzbekistan — one of the most repressive governments on the planet — praised the country as “an increasingly important partner,” thanks to “its deliberate, reliable resistance to Russian pressure.” Azerbaijan’s mimicry of Russian rhetoric and rapprochement with Moscow is an implicit threat to Washington: Give us what we want, or we’ll go over to Russia.

The United States doesn’t need to give in to this blackmail. Yes, the stakes are high: As Washington works to isolate Russia economically, Azerbaijani natural gas has become an even more important alternative to Russian gas for European customers. And Baku’s geopolitical shift could upset the fragile balance that has kept tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh from turning into a full-scale war.

But it would be short-sighted for Washington to sacrifice its principles just to shore up support against Russia. Moscow’s current geopolitical moment is only temporary. While the pro-Russia forces in Baku appear to be ascendant for the time being, other powerful blocs favor closer ties to the West.

Failing to stand up for human rights and democracy, including the rights of its own RFE/RL, would make the United States look weak and sap its supporters. Expecting to be arrested, Ms. Ismayilova herself asked foreign governments to speak loudly in defense of the dozens of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. “I don’t believe in human rights advocacy behind closed doors,” she wrote. “People of my country need to know that human rights are supported.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/opinion/azerbaijan-snubs-the-west.html?_r=0

[Mher]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Armenia picks Russian economic ties but tries to keep foot in the West

YEREVAN, ARMENIA — When Armenia broke ranks last year with other former Soviet states marching toward Europe and pledged to join Russia’s new customs union instead, the goal of keeping a foothold in both the East and the West didn’t seem all that challenging.

It wasn’t the first time the country had pulled off such a high-stakes balancing act: For years, Armenia has been the only full member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Russian-led military alliance, to also participate in NATO peacekeeping missions. And with the United States and European Union promising to continue economic development efforts, there seemed little to lose by joining Russia.

But that was before the Ukraine crisis, before Western-Russian relations sank to their lowest point since the Cold War, and before the ruble started plummeting erratically — pulling down currencies such as the Armenian dram along with it.

Now, as Armenia settles into its role as the smallest member of Russia’s new Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the country is bracing for what even government officials acknowledge could be a rough ride.

“I never heard of a situation where turmoil in a partner country was a helpful thing,” said Vache Gabrielyan, deputy prime minister and head of a new government ministry for international economic integration.

People walk through Republic Square last month in Yerevan, Armenia. (Karoun Demirjian/The Washington Post)

“The situation, of course, has changed,” he added. “But I don’t yet see any change that fundamentally alters the choice we made.”

Armenia’s decision to scrap negotiations with Europe over an association agreement — the sort that the E.U. recently signed with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova — and join Russia’s nascent trade bloc was announced abruptly after a September 2013 meeting between the president, Serge Sarkisian, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Western diplomats said they were surprised, and some members of the opposition said the deal was the result of Russian blackmail.

Members of the Armenian government justified the decision as one that will give Armenia the opportunity to improve economic ties with both the E.U. and the EEU.

“In the framework of our humble abilities, we strive to serve as a bridge for these two organizations,” said deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, one of the key negotiators of the deal to bring Armenia into the EEU. Picking a side was simply a necessity, he added, because “nowadays, every state needs to be in an economic cooperation bloc. Germany, France — are they on their own? Heh.”

The idea that Armenia could help build E.U.-EEU economic ties appears to have some support in the Kremlin. Last week, Russia’s E.U. ambassador told the EU Observer, a news Web site, that Armenia is one of several countries that could facilitate trade between Russia’s new customs union and Europe.

What few in the Armenian government will acknowledge, however, is that in choosing to side with Russia, they didn’t have much choice.

Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union 23 years ago. But Russia remains the tiny country’s most vital link to the outside world.

From left, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev at the Eurasian Economic Union summit in Moscow on Dec. 23. (Maxim Shipenkov/AP)

Russia hosts the largest population of Armenians outside Armenia and is the largest source of remittances, which accounted for more than a fifth of Armenia’s national income last year. Russia has a monopoly on selling Armenia cheap gas through 2043, and state-funded Russian television broadcasts are how many Armenians get news and information.

While Europe remains Armenia’s largest export market, Russia is the key destination for non-raw-material goods, which Gabrielyan says will help Armenia diversify its economy — especially, he said, because Armenia is not yet ready to compete in Europe.

Few public officials, even those who have criticized the president, discount those ties. Last month, Armenia’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve joining the EEU.

The EEU dealmaking process “was misguided and should have been done differently,” said Vartan Oskanian, Armenia’s former foreign minister and a member of Prosperous Armenia, parliament’s second-largest party. But lawmakers backed EEU membership “given the importance we attach to Armenia’s relations with Russia.”

Yet the most important factor driving Armenia’s participation in Russia’s new economic union isn’t economic.

“We have a security issue which demands us to take faster steps,” Kocharyan said, explaining that benefits of European association would take longer to realize than joining the EEU. “Such long-term projects are very important, but we can never exclude the possibility that the day after tomorrow, we may have to impose peace on our neighbors.”

Russia is Armenia’s chief supplier of arms, at discounted prices, and maintains a military base in the country. Armenians consider that a vital asset in their two-decade-long, frozen conflict over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan that declared independence as the Soviet Union was coming apart.

There is fear of endangering the Russian military support especially because there is no real Western alternative. Although Armenia is recipient of one of the highest levels of U.S. aid per capita, that money isn’t for buying weapons.

But some opposition members worry that joining the EEU may undermine the economic and strategic security Armenia seeks to preserve through closer association.

“Many Armenians think that Russia can only solicit Azerbaijan to join the EEU by bargaining on Karabakh,” said Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition member of parliament who spent a few years as a political prisoner under Sarkisian’s presidency.

In recent years, Russia began selling arms to Azerbaijan — a shift Armenia believes fueled a spike in cross-border skirmishes last summer. And Armenia only narrowly avoided having trade with Nagorno-Karabakh subjected to customs tariffs in EEU negotiations.

Pashinyan said EEU membership could also hurt deals between Armenia and other neighbors, such as Iran, where a rollback of sanctions could present lucrative opportunities to transport oil to Europe. Through the EEU, Russia could stymie such plans.

Such concerns are why some government opponents maintain that joining the EEU is tantamount to “surrendering by our own signature . . . the independence we gained 23 years ago,” said Raffi Hovannisian, the U.S.-born leader of Armenia’s Heritage Party who ran for the presidency last year and made accusations of fraud after losing.

When asked about such scenarios, government officials said Armenia will not shy away from vetoing EEU decisions it doesn’t like, even under Russian pressure — and stressed that Armenia will still seek closer ties with Iran, the West and others as an EEU member.

But even if Armenia is able to walk that geopolitical tightrope, some believe that by moving toward Russia, the country lost something it can’t replace.

“You know, yesterday, we were not Europeans, yesterday we were not a democratic country. But yesterday we had the hope of becoming a democratic country, with European standards,” said Stepan Safaryan, a political analyst and former Heritage Party leader. “Tomorrow, we will not have this hope. And that is the problem.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/armenia-picks-russian-economic-ties-but-tries-to-keep-foot-in-the-west/2015/01/05/96072414-8627-11e4-abcf-5a3d7b3b20b8_story.html

[Mher]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

South-Caucasian Railway Key to Armenia’s EEU Membership, Says Expert



YEREVAN (Arka)—Armenia cannot become a fully-functioning member of the Eurasian Economic Union until the Abkhazian section of the South-Caucasian railway resumes operation, says Aram Safaryan, Director of Integration and Development Research and Analysis, a non-governmental organization in Yerevan. Safaryan made spoke about his assessment during a presentation of a research paper on “Russia and Armenia: Integration on the Background of the Global Crisis.”

According to Safaryan, following Russian president Putin’s meeting with the Abkhaz leader in Sochi the likelihood of successful resumption of railway operations is high. He said the stakeholders in this project are not only Georgia, Abkhazia, Russia and Armenia, but also Turkey, which has stepped up exports of products to Russia after the Russian ban on imports of foods from EU and some other countries.

He said the resumption of the Abkhazian section of the railway is strategically important for Armenia, as it provides the shortest and cheapest land route from Armenia to Russia. Putin recently announced that Russia and Abkhazia may organize transit rail service through Abkhazia to Georgia and from there to Armenia given an agreement by all sides.

Safaryan said non-governmental organizations, political circles and the media must provide platforms to all those who favor the resumption of the South-Caucasian Railway, as well as the construction of a new highway, which can bind Dagestan with Georgia, one branch of which will go to Armenia through the North-South transport corridor under construction in Armenia, and the second branch, which may head to Turkey.

“It is obvious that Armenia would not feel itself as a full member of the Eurasian Economic Union unless these projects are implemented,” said Safaryan.

Six months ago, speaking in the National Assembly of Armenia, deputy transport minister Artur Arakelyan said the resumption of the Abkhazian section of the railway is estimated to cost some $200 million.

http://asbarez.com/129710/south-caucasian-railway-key-to-armenias-eeu-membership-says-expert/

[Mher]

Re: Eurasian Customs Union

Crisis-hit Russia's top allies forge ties with Ukraine
Kiev (AFP) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev followed his Belarussian counterpart to Ukraine on Monday as Moscow's old allies reassessed their reliance on Russia in the heat of its financial malaise.

Both visits were ostensibly made to kickstart stalled peace talks between Kiev and the two Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine that rebelled against the ex-Soviet republic's westward shift in April, sparking months of fighting.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko already hosted major peace negotiations in September and is hoping to do so again in Minsk in the coming days.

But Nazarbayev has no evident link to the eight-month conflict and along with Belarus remains a member of a Russian-dominated economic union that once had aspirations to enlist Ukraine.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that both leaders -- criticised in the West for their intolerance of political dissent -- were now trying to shake off the Kremlin and forge partnerships in Europe because Russian President Vladimir Putin "is weak".

Some political analysts in Russia agreed.

"This is an unambiguous signal to Putin," said Konstantin Kalachyov of Moscow's Political Expert Group think tank.

"Both Kazakhstan and Belarus fear that their union with Russia will be engulfed by (an economic) crisis."

- 'Secret negotiations' -

Putin strongly denies accusations by the West that Moscow has been backing Ukraine's separatist fighters. He says Western sanctions against his country are a remnant of Cold War-era thinking designed to contain Russia and possibly even topple his team.

The veteran Kremlin leader is due on Tuesday to receive both Nazarbayev and Lukashenko for a summit of leaders from neighbouring nations that have formed a loose military bloc.

But his relations with Lukashenko have been strained by the Belarussian strongman's refusal to let Russian industrial giants take over his state companies in return for discounted energy deliveries.

The Kremlin's top foreign policy adviser said Putin would meet separately in Moscow with Nazarbayev but had no such talks planned with the Belarussian head of state.

Nazarbayev has spent the past two decades carefully balancing his Central Asian country's interests between those of Russia and China -- its southeastern neighbour and increasingly important trading partner.

Yet Nazarbayev said after his talks with Poroshenko that "Ukraine is closer to Europe (than Russia) and it would have been strange if the two did not work together or strike their association agreement" at the start of the year.

Nazarbayev branded the war in Ukraine's east as "nonsense that should not be happening" and appealed for negotiations between Moscow and Kiev that would end the fighting and "preserved the territorial integrity of Ukraine".

Lukashenko also seemed keen to cast himself as ready to stand up to Russia.

He appeared to be referring to Putin when he told the Ukrainian leader: "They keep saying that Lukashenko is afraid of someone. But I am not afraid."

Belarussian state media then quoted Lukashenko as saying that he supported holding "secret" negotiations about building stronger cross-border ties with Ukraine.

"Let's not say anything to anyone at all but do it in secret -- just as long as there is progress in this direction," Lukashenko was quoted as saying.

- 'No chess master' -

The US and EU sanctions have cut off Russia's biggest companies from Western money markets and put them in danger of going bankrupt.

And the Kremlin's ability to provide their rescue has been limited by a recent fall in the global price on Russian oil and gas exports.

But the Western restrictions and a plunging ruble have hardly dented Putin's domestic approval -- still estimated at around 80 percent. Nor have the economic woes appeared to have significantly altered his public stance on Ukraine.

US President Barack Obama on Sunday dismissed the notion that Putin was "the chess master and outmaneuvering the West and outmaneuvering Mr Obama."

"Right now, he's presiding over the collapse of his currency, a major financial crisis and a huge economic contraction," he told CNN.

Putin will have a chance to discuss the sanctions when he and Poroshenko hold a joint teleconference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on Monday evening.

http://news.yahoo.com/crisis-hit-russias-top-allies-build-ties-ukraine-003145285.html