The path of Armenia to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, taken at a meeting of presidents Vladimir Putin and Serzh Sargsyan in Moscow a year ago, has not ended yet. Armenia was planning to become a member of the CU in spring 2014, before the signing of the Eurasian Union agreement in Astana on May 29. The summit of presidents of the Customs Union in Minsk on September 10 is another benchmark in the process.

Andrey Smirnov, vice president of the Eurasian Cooperation Development Foundation, said that Armenia has started integration into the Customs Union with a road map consisting of 50 compulsory points. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev named technical aspects for Armenia at the Astana meeting on May 29. Neither Armenia nor Kyrgyzstan have accomplished all the technical goals.

Smirnov reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on September 1 to join Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union. He is adamant that the presidents of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan will be invited to the September 10 meeting and an agreement will be signed. An unsanctioned protest happened at the president’s administration on September 4, 2013, the day following news about Armenia’s integration into the CU instead of association with the EU. Similar protests started yesterday, activists were calling for the independence of Armenia and insulting the Russian authorities.

Special outrage in Armenia was caused by warnings by Nazarbayev that the occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh could not take part in any Eurasian integration projects. The Kazakh president told his Armenian counterpart Sargsyan that joining the Eurasian Union is done according to the borders recognized by the UN, just like joining the WTO.

The Armenian president agreed to join the CU and the EaEU according to UN-recognised borders later. The Armenian authorities regularly emphasize that Yerevan will not make any efforts to follow the rule as a member of the Customs Union. Armenia is basically organizing a full-fledged border with occupied Azerbaijani territories, customs offices and a ban on crossing it without the necessary documents. It is possible that the occupied territories are what is slowing Armenian integration into Eurasian projects.

The path of Armenia to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, taken at a meeting of presidents Vladimir Putin and Serzh Sargsyan in Moscow a year ago, has not ended yet. Armenia was planning to become a member of the CU in spring 2014, before signing of the Eurasian Union agreement in Astana on May 29. The summit of presidents of the Customs Union in Minsk on September 10 is another benchmark in the process.Andrey Smirnov, vice president of the Eurasian Cooperation Development Foundation, said that Armenia started integration into the Customs Union with a road map consisting of 50 compulsory points. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev named technical aspects for Armenia at the Astana meeting on May 29. Both Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have not accomplished all the technical goals.Smirnov reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on September 1 to adjoin Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union. He is adamant that presidents of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan will be invited to the September 10 meeting and an agreement will be signed. An unsanctioned protest happened at the president’s administration on September 4, 2013, the day following news about Armenia’s integration into the CU instead of association with the EU. Similar protests started yesterday, activists were calling for independence of Armenia and insulting Russian authorities. Special outrage in Armenia was caused by warnings of Nazarbayev that the occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh could not take part in any Eurasian integration projects. The Kazakh president told his Armenian counterpart Sargsyan that joining the Eurasian Union is done according to borders recognized by the UN, just like joining the WTO.The Armenian president agreed to join the CU and the EaEU according to UN-recognized borders later. Armenian authorities regularly emphasize that Yerevan will not make any efforts to follow the rule as a member of the Customs Union. Armenia is basically organizing a full-fledged border with occupied Azerbaijani territories, customs offices and the ban to cross it without the necessary documents. It is possible that the occupied territories are what drags Armenian integration in Eurasian projec