Russia should not exert pressure on Ukraine and Moldova to accede to the Eurasian Union, say experts interviewed on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club’s 10th anniversary meeting.

       Russia should not exert pressure on Ukraine and Moldova to accede to the Eurasian Union, say experts interviewed by RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club’s 10th anniversary meeting yesterday.

       “Ukraine and Moldova are being pressured into Eurasian integration. something which causes mixed feelings, let’s say. You cannot pressure countries into a union. This is a very important factor that influences public opinion and the behavior of the elites,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, Board Chairperson of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research.

       Petru Lucinschi, former president of the Republic of Moldova, also believes that Russia is resorting to threats in its efforts to establish the Eurasian Union. “If you don’t join, we won’t give you any gas. If you don’t join, we will not buy your goods. If you don’t join, we will kick out your guest workers. This is no longer political relationship, it is getting personal,” Lucinschi says.

       Earlier this month, Gennady Onishchenko, Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare, announced that wine imports from Moldova were suspended due to quality complaints. The import of Roshen confectionary products from Ukraine was banned starting from late July after violations in quality were revealed during a random check of the products from the company’s four factories on sale in Moscow stores.

       Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, believes such claims are cropping up too often. He believes that if the Eurasian integration does not work out, the desire to put on a show of success, primarily political, will increase.

       “And in that case, this political union will unfortunately share the same fate as the otherideas, mostly theoretical, that were repeatedly voiced after the collapse of the Soviet Union on re-uniting the former Soviet space,” Lukyanov said.

       Fesenko adds that Ukraine is most likely to choose Europe over Eurasia in this dispute. “I think Ukraine will inevitably drift toward the European Union. Slow European integration without actual EU membership is the most plausible short-term scenario,” he concluded.

       Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.