NOVO-OGARYOVO, December 10. /TASS/. Ukraine did express the intention to join an association of countries in the Eurasian space when such plans were still being discussed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a videoconference of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on Friday.
Putin recalled that Kazakhstan’s first president Nursultan Nazarbayev was the brain-father of such an association.
"I remember well his telephone call, when he asked a number of fundamental questions about Russia’s vision of its priorities in the near future," Putin said. "We agreed that both Kazakhstan and Russia would attach priority to creating an integration association, which we had discussed before and which Belarus and, incidentally, Ukraine were ready to join then."
"Regarding Ukraine it did not work, although its leaders at that time expressed certain intentions. Whatever the case, Kazakhstan’s first president gave this process an impetus, and today we feel that it was an absolutely correct thing to do," Putin said.
He joined his voice to a chorus of thanks to the authorities of Kazakhstan for the work done during Kazakhstan’s EAEU presidency in 2021.
The Eurasian Economic Union is an international economic integration organization incorporating Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Moldova, Uzbekistan and Cuba enjoy the status of observers. The EAEU’s highest supra-national body is the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. The Eurasian Economic Commission is the permanent supra-national regulatory body. The leaders of the EAEU’s member-countries participate in the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council’s meetings.