YEREVAN NOT ALLOWED TO CROSS THE BORDER

The capital of Belarus clearly aspires to become the unofficial "diplomatic centre" of the post-Soviet space. Following the uneasy "Ukrainian" negotiations, Minsk hosts the CIS summit. The agenda is expected to be busy. Even before the meeting it was announced that the sessions of the Council of CIS Heads of State, the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) and the Supreme Eurasian economic council will be held in Minsk. The program of the CIS summit includes development of multilateral cooperation in the economic, humanitarian and law enforcement fields, signing relevant agreements and decisions, the statement on strengthening the international drug control system, as well as an appeal in connection with the 70th anniversary of victory in the World War Two.

The CIS is in demand

Minsk hosted, in fact, three summits. The CIS heads of state met here. On the same day in Minsk, both the termination of the Customs union [CU] was announced and the Eurasian union was launched. Although CU and EAEC were and continue to be integration associations, as the agenda of the CIS summit shows, large-scale and long-term integration tasks were not discussed here. However, even back in the spring of 2005, amid the talk of an imminent collapse of the CIS and attempts to make in its place real "wide" integration projects were in high demand, none other than the president of Russia put an end to these disputes. "If in Europe the EU countries worked together to unite, the CIS was created for a civilized divorce," Vladimir Putin said then.

Nevertheless, the CIS is in demand today - primarily as an indispensable political "platform", a way of preserving the common humanitarian, cultural, if anything, the "human" space. The CIS has not yet exhausted its potential - it is a platform of cooperation and collaboration, for discussions of topical issues of regional and international life, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the CIS summit, where he delivered a speech. "Azerbaijan attaches great importance to its participation in the CIS, - he stressed. - We believe that within the organization we have achieved so much in terms of interaction, coordination, a better understanding of each other, as well as in other important issues. Furthermore, we are very actively cooperating with the majority of the CIS member countries in the bilateral format. I believe that bilateral relations cemented relationships within our organization, and we will continue to strive to increase the potential of the bilateral cooperation." The Azerbaijani president spoke about the international risks, pointing out that in the international arena our country seeks to pursue policies conducive to greater stability and predictability, and on economic projects, including in the energy sector, which Azerbaijan today implements. In addition, according to him, Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cultural cooperation, which is the basis of life of the CIS. "Recently, a few days ago, the fourth International humanitarian Forum was held in Baku. Representatives of our countries, as well as representatives from more than 60 other countries, attended it. Issues of humanitarian cooperation and interreligious dialogue as well as the dialogue of civilizations, related to issues of multiculturalism, are of great importance. I think that the positive experience of our countries suggests that the multicultural society is the only way for the development," the head of state said.

Still, there were some controversies too. In order of rotation the meeting of the leaders of the CIS countries was to be held in Kiev, but Ukraine refused. Moreover, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko did not attend the summit in Minsk, which caused quite a sharp reaction from his colleagues. "It is unacceptable that the burning issues that relate to a country such as Ukraine are settled somewhere far, either in Berlin, or in Milan," Alyaksandr Lukashenka fumed. His Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov noted that "such a decision is difficult to accept" and he added: "It seems that he (Poroshenko - Ed.) is split and cannot decide whether or not he will benefit from exiting the CIS".

Many will remember the verbal skirmish between Vladimir Putin and President of Moldova Nikolay Timofti. The latter regretted that after signing the agreement with the EU, Russia effectively closed its market for the Moldovan goods. "It turns out that our country is forced out of the CIS free trade zone," Timofti said. Putin immediately remarked that it was necessary to think before about the impact the documents signed in Europe will have on relations with other partners. The Russian president said: "We have never been opposed to closer ties with the EU and are ready to work closely ourselves. The question is the terms of our cooperation. Problems are not due to the retaliatory or protective measures, but due to the fact that our partners do not consider it necessary to promptly, openly and professionally discuss all the risks that arise for the Russian economy and for other CIS countries when we join other trade and economic associations". The remarks continued even after the floor was taken by President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon. Yet, this exchange was not taken down.

A new union

However, in the South Caucasus the audience was far more interested in the other announced another event: in Minsk the Eurasian Union replaced the Customs Union. At the last meeting of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community, the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan summarized the work of the EurAsEC and signed an agreement for the termination of its activities (from 1 January 2015). According to the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin," the union performed an important mission: it ensured the ongoing development of the Eurasian integration, laid the groundwork for the creation of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space." "We are moving to a new, higher level of integration that will more effectively meet the challenges of modernizing our economies and improve their competitiveness," - said Putin.

But most importantly, in Minsk, an end was put to the issue that kept in suspense political circles in Yerevan: Armenia finally joined the Eurasian Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "We believe that Armenia is ready to work in the EAEC on an equal footing with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan."

"We hope that in the first two years after the accession of Armenia we will see a positive macroeconomic effect," - said the Russian president.

The question of the accession of Armenia first to the Customs Union, and then to the Eurasian Union, has been in limbo since the May EAEC summit. Then the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, said: "We received a letter from the President of Azerbaijan that Armenia joined the WTO with the proviso that the regulations should be extended to the territory of Armenia in the framework of its international borders, recognized by the UN. "That is, Armenia may join the EAEC, but without the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including Nagornyy Karabakh. Now it was Yerevan's turn to oppose this. 

Now Serzh Sargsyan has put his signature under the "Eurasian" documents. The president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, noted that during the negotiations for the accession of Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC) all legal and economic issues have been settled: "It was possible to reach a compromise on the delicate issue that we inquired, about the limits of boundaries in which Armenia joins (the EAEC - editorial note)," Nazarbayev said at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian economic Council.

He stressed that Kazakhstan sees no obstacles to accession of Armenia to the EAEC treaty.

Armenia, for obvious reasons, prefers not to go into details of the compromise Nazarbayev hinted at. However, back in late September the Association of informed citizens organization operating in Armenia published a draft treaty on the membership of the Republic of Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union and its applications. Paragraph 7 of the 2nd application, which is an integral part of the treaty, clearly states: "In Part 1 of Article 2 of the treaty of November 27, 2009 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union to add the words 'Republic of Armenia'." Part 1 of the 2nd article of the CU Customs Code states: "The single customs border of the Customs Union comprises the territory of the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, as well as artificial islands, installations, structures and other objects outside of the countries that fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the member states". The Yerevan opposition, and not only the opposition, came to the conclusion that Nagornyy Karabakh was not included in the single customs zone as it is no artificial island or structure or any other entity that falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia. The authorities neither confirmed, nor denied the sensational "leak". They simply pretended not to notice.