Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has suggested admitting Turkey to the Customs Union and dissolving the EurAsEC.
"The Turkish President has asked me if his country can join the Customs Union. Let's admit them. When I go abroad, people often ask me if we are creating something like a new USSR or something to be controlled by Russia. Perhaps if we admit Turkey, they will stop saying such things," Nazarbayev said during a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk on Thursday.
Concerning Armenia, he said that in order to be able to join the Customs Union, that country will have to go through all the procedures Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia have already gone through.
Nazarbayev also suggested dissolving the Eurasian Economic Community and enlarging the Customs Union, since the goals of the two organizations are similar. He thinks that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan may join the Customs Union as observers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in turn, pointed out that one should not liquidate EurAsEC at once, because it will undermine the legal framework of the Customs Union. He thinks that relevant mechanisms should be worked out for that. In the meantime, he shared Nazarbayev's opinion about the need to liquidate EurAsEC and said that "one should not forget the partners in the Common Economic Space", i.e. the other members of EurAsEC.