The Customs Union: A Resurgence of Soviet Unity or Just Another Failed Regional Initiative?
Formed in 2007, the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union has gained traction since 2010. Although it is too early to say whether the Union is doomed to fail like other similar regional agreements or whether it represents a Soviet-style resurrection of inter-state economic links, for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the grouping’s architect, the customs union has already become an instrument of both regional and international politics. Union membership is regarded as an indicator of political alignment with and support of Russian leadership in the post-Soviet space. Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are pressured to join the club. The Union implemented several key trade agreements and is expanding further into the postSoviet space, but its members remain divided on a number of policies. With that, the Customs Union also poses serious challenges to Russia and Kazakhstan’s bid for the WTO membership. Furthermore, the Union forces Russia to relax some of the retaliatory trade bans Moscow imposed in 2006 on Georgian products. Since the Customs Union is designed to erase trade barriers among its members, Georgian products banned in Russia will inevitably make their way to the Russian market once they pass through intermediary countries that have not imposed similar trade bans.
Latest news
- 03/17/2020 Call for Submission: “Non-Alignment Movement and Its Perspective in International Affairs”. Deadline: 1 July 2020 2237 views
Popular articles
- 02/24/2020 The Role of Irredentism in Russia’s Foreign Policy 2216 views
- 02/24/2020 Construction of sub-national identity vis-à-vis parent state: Gagauz case in Moldova 1913 views
- 02/24/2020 The Conflict in Ukraine - The Geopolitics of Separatism and Divergent Identities (Commentary) 1801 views
- 02/24/2020 The Role of the Soviet Past in Contemporary Georgia 1799 views