Updated 6:40 p.m. Moscow time
MINSK, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Future talks on the revision of the agreement on Ukraine's association with the European Union will be complicated and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) should take a 'unified stand' on the issue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.
"The talks will certainly be difficult, and we must take a common stand to convince our partners to avoid confronting the European and Eurasian integration for the sake of bringing both projects closer together," Putin said at a EEU summit in Minsk.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the treaty to create the Eurasian Union in May and have already ratified the document, which is expected to come in force on January 1, 2015. The union will be the largest common market in the ex-Soviet sphere.
Earlier on Friday, EEU leaders signed an agreement on Armenia's accession to the union treaty. The republic of Kyrgyzstan has also expressed interest in joining the organization.
The union is aimed at increasing economic cooperation among its member countries. Under the treaty, member countries agree to guarantee the free flow of goods, services, capital and labor, and to implement a coordinated policy in the energy, industrial, agricultural and transport sectors.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, another ex-Soviet country, is seeking closer ties with the European Union. In September, the parliaments of Ukraine and the European Union ratified Ukraine's Association Agreement with the EU. The treaty presupposes political and economic association between the parties.
Ukraine also has free-trade agreements with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Russian officials warned Kiev that the deal with the EU might mean losing the CIS market.
