Russia negotiates union with ex-Soviet states

RUSSIA: Russia sought Wednesday to expand its influence over former territories during integration talks that Washington has cast as a bid to “re-Sovietise” the region.

President Vladimir Putin met separately with the leaders of Belarus and Armenia before engaging the head of resource-rich Kazakhstan about ways to more closely bind the neighbours' economies.

He also attended a collective security meeting that resolved to create a Moscow-led air defence unit that would focus its activities on the regions surrounding war-torn Afghanistan.

Western attempts “to force other nations to accept their own standards can lead to the most serious circumstances,” Putin said in a trademark swipe at the United States.

This is especially underscored by the “dramatic situation in North Africa and the Middle East,” Putin said. The former KGB spy once called the Soviet Union's demise one of the 20th century's great calamities and has sought to stamp Moscow's authority over its old holdings.

Two blocs have now emerged from Soviet ruins -- a Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan as well as an alliance called the Eurasian Economic Community that loosely groups seven other states.

Neither has functioned as smoothly as planned and fuller cooperation is running behind schedule.

The global economic slowdown that has particularly impacted this region has also left Russia -- rich in oil but poor in terms of economic diversification -- counting its pennies while running its various ex-Soviet clubs.

“There are issues that we still need to discuss in further detail,” Putin told the Eurasian Economic Community meeting, saying more talks were needed on the “financial aspects” of how the organisation works.

The Kremlin is casting attempts to blur post-Soviet borders as only natural in a world beset by economic problems.

AFP