Today at 15:36
Details of the plan are outlined in an April 2024 report presented at a strategic session led by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The meeting included high-ranking officials, heads of major state-owned companies, and ideologists such as Alexander Dugin and Sergei Karaganov, who previously suggested a preemptive nuclear strike on Europe, Financial Times reported.
Russian authorities see the creation of this trade “macroregion” as a long-term project designed to outlast negotiations with the West over Ukraine and strengthen Moscow’s global position. The report cites Belarus as the most successful example of deepening economic ties and Russian influence.
The bloc is expected to link Russia with countries of the Global South, forming “a common worldview in which we write the rules for the new world and have our own sanctions policy.”
However, the report also highlights significant challenges. It notes that Western pressure has forced Central Asian countries to comply with sanctions through a mix of incentives and threats. Additionally, Moscow’s allies have exploited the situation to push Russian businesses out of their markets, seize control of trade flows, and relocate production outside Russia.
