Central Asia Policy Forum No. 4, February 2013
Putin’s Eurasian Union project, the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union and the Single Economic Space, raises many debates about the economic goals and political agendas behind them. Their impact on Kazakhstan’s economy is complex to assess, with contradictory statements on the matter. They push Kyrgyzstan and, to a lesser extent, Tajikistan to take a stance on them and to decide whether to integrate under Russia’s leadership or risk being marginalized from Russian-Kazakhstani markets. Probably for the first time since the Soviet Union’s collapse, Moscow has been able to shape the regional agenda on integration issues.
