Again, we may be watching the resurgence of a new more liberal Soviet style coalition complete with a rule-from-the-center economic approach under Russia. -Am
MosNews
Russia and Ukraine ratified membership of an economic union on Tuesday, the Reuters news agency reports. The move came despite protests in Ukraine where the opposition says the deal is an attempt by Moscow to reassert its former imperial power.
The union, creating a common tax code and a customs union ending trade tariffs, is also intended to include Belarus and Kazakhstan, which have yet to ratify the arrangements.
In the Ukrainian parliament, the opposition boycotted the vote but ratification still passed easily; 265 lawmakers in the 450-seat chamber voting in favour.
In the Russian Duma, where President Vladimir Putin’s supporters have a big majority of the 450 seats, support was overwhelming; 408 voted in favour.
The plan was signed by the presidents of the four former Soviet republics last year. Kazakhstan will vote on Wednesday. Belarus says its parliament, which rarely contradicts President Alexander Lukashenko, plans to consider approval soon.
The four have a combined population of about 225 million —- nearly 150 million of them in Russia and 50 million in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said the union was key to sustaining economic growth once the European Union expands to Ukraine’s western borders on May 1, raising new barriers to its exports.
“The main aim of a common economic space is to make Ukraine’s economy more competitive,” Finance Minister Mykola Azarov said as he presented the document.
The opposition criticised the document as an attempt to weaken the independence Ukraine won from Moscow in 1991.
“We are betraying the Ukrainian people,” Oleh Tyagnybok, a member of parliament from the opposition party Our Ukraine, said. “Russia, whether it was under the tsars or under the soviets, has always tried to suppress Ukraine.”
About 3,000 people rallied outside parliament during the vote, waving Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag and nationalist banners reading “No to Union, No to the Return of the USSR”.
The neighbours have a long history of rivalry.
In Moscow, opposition Communists and the Motherland faction staged a walkout after ratification when the Duma voted to ratify two border agreements with Ukraine. They accused Kiev of discriminating against Ukraine’s millions of Russian speakers.
There have been several attempts to form economic unions among former Soviet states struggling to boost their economies and win new markets after a regional financial crisis in 1998. Significant results, however, are hard to discern.
Belarus, Russia to strengthen joint military capabilities
I take this to mean during wartime the Belarussian and Russian armies will be one.
-Am
02.10.2004, 18.57
BORISOV, Minsk region, October 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country and Russia would strengthen joint military capabilities.
Speaking at the Shchit Otechestva-2004 (Fatherland’s Shield) military exercise on Saturday, Lukashenko said this work will cover all aspects, from personnel to weaponry. In his words, “The Belarussian army is the core of the Belarussian-Russian force. In wartime it will be reinforced by Russia.”
The president stressed that the Belarussian army “is absolutely combat capable and is at its best”.
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