... economic implications of the former differ significantly from the latter. Eurasian integration is about harmonizing the economies of member states that are at similar levels of development, whereas cooperation with the EU was asymmetric in character. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will do little to help Russia modernize technologically or open up new markets for its energy resources, but it will allow Russia to expand its markets, reduce expenses and tap into migrant labour.
Cooperation with China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region may allow ...
... with major Asia-Pacific and South Asian countries, as well as cooperation with the CIS countries, has traditionally been a Russian priority. That priority has become more pronounced in recent years. It is manifested above all in the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), an international association of five former Soviet economies: Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and later Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. It is also evident in the growing partnership with Asia-Pacific countries. Russia’s presidency of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 2012 was important in this respect. The term “Eurasia” ...
... professionalism. Otherwise, instead of a strategic reorientation, we might end up in economic and geopolitical isolation.
12. The shift of strategic accents means that Moscow should invest considerable political capital in developing the mechanisms of EEU, SCO and other multilateral structures of Greater Eurasia. This is especially true since many of these mechanisms are being created virtually from scratch and Russian foreign policy has every opportunity to play active and, in some areas, leading role in their formation.
13. This does not mean that Russia should turn its back on Europe, renouncing interaction with its European partners and friends. Far from ...