ST. PETERSBURG, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – Western sanctions against Moscow could drive integration between the Asia-Pacific region and the proposed economic union of post-Soviet states, widely seen as Russia’s counterweight to the EU, Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said Thursday.
“The striving of Western countries to hamper the cooperation between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) by introducing sanctions does not reflect [Russia's] unique geopolitical situation and will only speed up the integration with the Asia-Pacific region,” Naryshkin told the Eurasian Economic Perspectives forum.
Naryshkin said the proposed Eurasian Economic Union (EAU) is a “serious geopolitical player” that will in the future bridge Western Europe, which has fallen into recession in the past seven years, with the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.
The move comes amid Moscow’s efforts to reassess its participation in the global economy and focus on the Eurasian project.
The idea, proposed by Vladimir Putin in 2011, envisages the creation of a Eurasian Economic Union (EAU), initially composed of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The treaty establishing the EAU could be signed by the leaders of the three countries as early as next month, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said last week.
In remarks on the current crisis in Ukraine, where pro-federalization protests have intensified in recent weeks, Naryshkin said most Ukrainian citizens have refused to support the country’s anti-Eurasian policy, as they are “being pressured by the West.”
Tensions between Russia and the West flared after a regime change in February when the Ukrainian parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and scheduled early presidential elections for May 25.
Russia has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power that resulted in Moscow taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine and reunify with Crimea following a referendum in the region last month.
Western countries have refused to recognize Crimea’s reunification with Russia and introduced targeted sanctions against Russian politicians and businessmen, while warning of serious economic consequences for Moscow over its policies toward Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the language of sanctions in relation to Russia was both inappropriate and counterproductive, stressing that the move showed the West’s reluctance to acknowledge reality in the region.
