Russia expands Eurasian Union in competition with European bloc

Russian President Vladimir Putin expanded his emerging Eurasian Economic Union with the announcement Tuesday that tiny and impoverished Kyrgyzstan will join the bloc four months after it comes into force on New Year's Day.
The alliance of former Soviet republics was designed by the Kremlin leader to counter the Brussels-based European Union, which has spread its trade and political assimilation up to Russia's borders, including the Eastern European states that were members of Moscow-led Comecon during the Cold War era and the three ex-Soviet Baltic republics.
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After Tuesday's ceremony in Moscow to sign documents among the five Eurasian Economic Union states, Lukashenko criticized Russian efforts to punish Belarus for its end run around sanctions. Russia has stopped importing meat and dairy products from Belarus, purportedly over concern about food purity, and put barriers in the way of Belarus exports through Russia to Kazakhstan.
The decision Tuesday to admit Kyrgyzstan, the poorest of the former Soviet bloc countries, also appeared unlikely to advance the Eurasian Economic Union's collective prosperity. With a per capita gross domestic product of $2,500, the tiny, landlocked Central Asian country of 5.6 million people ranks 185th among the 193 United Nations member states.
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Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev first proposed in 1994 a union of former Soviet states to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, labor and capital. The five states so far committed to joining the Moscow-led bloc comprise a market of nearly 180 million people."
Link to LA Times