Vladimir Putin’s Eurasian Union: A New Integration Project for the CIS Region?

Abstract:

After declaring his candidacy in the 2012 presidential elections, Russia's Prime Minister Putin announced a 'Eurasian Union' as the target of an amplified integration process within the CIS region.

This venture raises a series of questions. Is this a case of election campaigning, or is it the setting of a foreign policy agenda? Is this really a new integration project, or a continuation of Putin's policy towards the post-Soviet region?

Putin was clear in one regard: the objective is not to re-establish the Soviet Union, but rather to create a 'powerful supra-national union' of sovereign states, which stands on equal footing with the USA and China as well as the major regional organisations. He placed particular emphasis on the partnership with the European Union. First and foremost, however, Putin is likely fixated on Russia's position in the post-Soviet region, the main priority in terms of foreign policy.