Eurasian Economic Union

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a regional integration organisation established by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, signed in Astana on 29 May 2014 and entering into force on 1 January 2015. Its founding members were Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan; Armenia acceded later in 2014 and Kyrgyzstan in 2015, bringing membership to five states.

The EAEU built on earlier integration steps, notably the Eurasian Customs Union (operational from 2010) and the Single Economic Space (2012). It commits members to the four freedoms — free movement of goods, services, capital, and labour — alongside coordinated policies in energy, transport, agriculture, and macroeconomic regulation. A Common External Tariff applies to imports from third countries.

Institutionally, the bloc operates through:

• The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, comprising heads of state, as its top decision-making body.
• The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of prime ministers.
• The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the permanent regulatory body based in Moscow.
• The Court of the EAEU, seated in Minsk, which adjudicates disputes over treaty interpretation.

Decisions in the Commission are generally taken by consensus or qualified majority, though each member retains a veto on matters of vital national interest.

The EAEU has signed free trade agreements with Vietnam (2015), Singapore (2019), Serbia (2019), and Iran (an interim deal in 2018, upgraded to a full FTA signed in December 2023). Observer status has been granted to Moldova (2018), Cuba (2020), and Uzbekistan (2020).

Analysts often frame the EAEU as a vehicle for Russian geoeconomic influence across the post-Soviet space, and tensions have surfaced over Belarus-Russia energy pricing, Kazakh resistance to political deepening, and the spillover effects of Western sanctions on Russia since 2014 and especially after February 2022. Trade among members has grown but remains heavily skewed toward the Russian economy.