# Eurasian Economic Union The **Eurasian Economic Union** (EAEU) is the Russian-led single market of five former Soviet republics — [[Russia]], [[Belarus]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]] and [[Armenia]] — and the economic counterpart to the [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]]. Its founding treaty was signed in Astana on 29 May 2014 and took effect on 1 January 2015. It is best understood as Moscow's answer to the [[European Union]]: a rival integration project offered to the same countries at the same moment, on terms that make joining one incompatible with deepening ties to the other. ## Structure | Item | Detail | |---|---| | Predecessors | Eurasian Economic Community (2000) → Customs Union (2010) → Common Economic Space (2012) *[single-sourced]* | | Members | Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan (founders, 1 January 2015); Armenia (2 January 2015); Kyrgyzstan (August 2015) | | Observers | [[Moldova]] (May 2018, nominally — it has attended no meetings since 2022 and is leaving the CIS), [[Uzbekistan]] and Cuba (December 2020), [[Iran]] (December 2024) | | Institutions | Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (heads of state); Intergovernmental Council (heads of government); Eurasian Economic Commission, headquartered in Moscow; EAEU Court in Minsk | | Free-trade agreements | Vietnam (in force 2016), Serbia (2021), Iran (full agreement in force 15 May 2025); agreements with the UAE, Indonesia and Mongolia signed in 2025 | | Scale | About 190 million people *[single-sourced]* | **The asymmetry is the design.** At the union's founding, Russia accounted for about 87% of its combined GDP and 83% of its population, per a 2015 Foreign Affairs analysis; no current GDP-share figure from a reliable source was found. The Commission sits in Moscow. A single market among one large economy and four small ones is, functionally, the small economies adopting the large one's trade rules. ## The choice it forces **Armenia, 2013.** On 3 September 2013, at Putin's residence outside Moscow, President Serzh Sargsyan announced Armenia would join the Customs Union — abandoning an EU Association Agreement and free-trade deal it had been due to initial at the Vilnius summit that November. **Ukraine, 2013.** On 21 November 2013 Ukraine's government suspended preparations to sign its own EU Association Agreement; protests began on the Maidan that night (see [[Euromaidan]]). The direct link between Kyiv's decision and the Moscow-led customs project is widely argued but has not been confirmed by two independent sources. **Armenia, 2026.** The choice has come back in reverse. After Armenia's 2025 EU-accession law and a May 2026 Armenia–EU joint declaration, the other four presidents meeting in Astana on 29 May 2026 asked for a report on "the possible consequences of the suspension" of the treaty with respect to Armenia, due at the December 2026 summit. [[Nikol Pashinyan]] did not attend. ## Why it matters here The EAEU is the economic half of the "near abroad" doctrine described at [[Post-Soviet States]] — and it shows the doctrine's limit. It holds the states that are already dependent (Belarus, Kyrgyzstan), the one that hedges from inside (Kazakhstan), and one that is trying to leave (Armenia). Ukraine and Uzbekistan — the two large republics Moscow most wanted inside — are not members. See also [[Eurasianism]] for the ideological case made for it. ## See Also - [[Post-Soviet States]] - [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] - [[Armenia]] - [[Euromaidan]]