Russia: Eurasian Union
The idea of a Eurasian Union was first proposed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in an Izvestia op-ed, on October 5, 2011. It aims to integrate the member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) into a customs and economic union and ultimately to build a supra-national alliance of sovereign countries.
Russia's plan is to start with five CIS countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan), and then expand the Eurasian Union to include all former Soviet republics, and beyond that, to cover the Asia-Pacific region.
A central component of the Eurasian Union, the Eurasian Economic Union was launched in 2015. Free flow of products, services, capital and labor within the union is envisaged by 2025, and the final goal is to broaden the union into one similar to the European Union, with a unified market benefiting 170 million people.
The prospects for aligning the Eurasian Union framework with the Belt and Road Initiative appear promising. The latter will buttress Russia's efforts to shift the center of gravity of its economic development to Siberia and the Far East, to bridge the gap between its Asian and European parts, and to propel the process of building a fledgling Eurasian Union.
俄罗斯“欧亚联盟”
2011年10月5日，时任俄罗斯总理普京在俄《消息报》发表署名文章，提出了“欧亚联盟”的发展理念。“欧亚联盟”旨在逐步融合独联体国家，打造统一的关税联盟和经济空间 ；通过提升独联体地区一体化的程度与层次，最终建立起拥有超国家机构的主权国家联盟。俄罗斯将以独联体国家为突破口，逐渐将“欧亚联盟” 的范围由现在的俄罗斯、白俄罗斯、哈萨克斯坦、亚美 尼亚、吉尔吉斯斯坦共5个前苏联加盟共和国扩大到整个前苏联“版图”，最后辐射到亚太地区。欧亚经济联盟作为“欧亚联盟”的关键环节，已于 2015年正式启动，预计在2025年实现商品、服务、资金和劳动力的自由流动，最终将建成类似于欧盟的经济联盟，形成一个拥有1.7亿人口的统一市场。“欧亚联盟”与“一带一路”的战略对接前景广阔。丝绸之路经济带对于推动俄罗斯将经济发展的重心东移到西伯利亚和远东地区，缩小其亚洲部分与欧洲部分的经济差距，建成“欧亚联盟”有着重要意义。
