Russia increasing influence on EEU member states to mitigate western sanctions - analyst  

Against the backdrop of tightening western sanctions, Russia is now making every attempt to return to its Cold War-era policy of expanding political influence, an Amrenian analyst said today, commenting on a recent statement by a Russian presidential advisor.

According to Edgar Vardanyan, the country is now practically using the potentials of the EEU member states, which directly incur the consequences of those measures.

“Russia is trying to mitigate the negative impact of those sanctions also at the expense of the EEU member countries. Seeing the serious problems it is facing today and using its military potential, it is trying, by and large, to improve its economic situation through the countries which are under its influence and have problems with the West,” he noted.

In a speech at the Second International Forum of Eurasian Partnership in Yerevan, Sergey Glazev, an advisor to President Vladimir Putin, proposed a plan for organizing a joint production across the common economic bloc, adding that they are also interested collaboration with third countries in an effort to create other free trade areas.

“Russia is not only trying to strengthen its influence on those countries to be a sole dictator but is also seeking the status of a geopolitical unit representing other states,” Vardanyan noted.

But he ruled out the possibility of fully re-establishing the former format.

“I don’t think they do not understand the existing opportunities. But they rely also on the powerful capacities of their military industrial complex in an attempt to make it attractive in a way and to use it also as a tool of blackmail,” the analyst explained.