However, the three founding members of EurAsEc—Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan—decided
to go further and form an inner circle with a fully fledged customs union, leading
to a single market. The Customs Union (Tamozhennyy Soyuz) was ratified on July 5, 2010. It included plans to adopt a common currency. In this
instance, Russia was following the logic of European integration in which a deepening
of economic integration leads, via a process of functional spillover, to a gradual political integration of the member states. Unlike the Union State the Customs Union is making
progress and Russian officials are busy expanding its scope beyond the existing three
members. Ukraine, here again, is the main target. The Ukrainian Economy Minister,
Vasyl Tsushko, announced in December 2010 that Ukraine will act as an observer in
the negotiations between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan on the creation of a Customs
Union.[24] He emphasized that “it is interesting for us to see what they are discussing there.”
According to him, “Ukraine is not yet considering participating in the customs union.”
It would be “primarily interested in [the] creation of a free trade zone within the
Commonwealth of Independent States.”[25] But Russia is constantly raising its pressure on the Ukrainian government. In July
2012 Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that Kiev and Moscow “were discussing,
are discussing, and will continue to discuss” the question of Ukraine’s joining of
the Customs Union, a question, he said, that was “directly connected with national
interests.”[26] Yanukovych was also discussing with the EU. After six years of negotiations he was
expected to sign an Association Agreement with the EU during the Eastern Partnership
summit, organized on November 28–29, 2013, in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. At the
last minute, however, he refused to sign and turned to Moscow. Putin had offered $15
billion in loans and an important discount in the price of imported gas. Yanukovych’s
U-turn led to massive demonstrations in the center of Kiev.
