Moscow-Led Eurasian Bloc Holds Landmark Economic Summit in Minsk

Along with Russia, the Eurasian Economic Union includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Laureano Ortega Murillo, Nicaragua's envoy for relations with Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov and Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing attend the 4th Eurasian Economic Forum in Minsk on June 26, 2025. Sergei Bobylyov /POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Minsk hosted a major Eurasian economic summit this week, which was attended by several regional leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Held on June 26 and 27, the event was organized by the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), an economic confederation of five Eurasian states.

Launched in 2015, the EAEU is made up of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Belarus hosted the summit.

The leaders of all member states attended the summit in person, with the exception of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who participated via video link.

Speaking at a plenary session on June 26, Putin said that the EAEU had “established itself as a successful integration association” since it was launched a decade ago and now stood among the “key centers of global development.”

According to its official website, the EAEU seeks to promote the “free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor” and a “harmonized and single [economic] policy” between its five members.

Ferit Temur, a Turkish expert in Eurasian affairs, described the EAEU as a “geo-economic integration project developed by Russia to maintain its central position in the former Soviet geography against China, the European Union, and the United States.”

Its five current member states are “important for the global economy because they host a wide range of energy, agricultural, and mineral resources,” he told The Epoch Times.

“The fact that the United Arab Emirates and Mongolia signed cooperation agreements with the EAEU, while countries such as Cuba and Myanmar declared their intention to develop cooperation with the bloc, shows that this organization is increasingly attracting attention in the international arena,” Temur said.

De-Dollarization

Addressing summit participants, Putin said that inter-bloc trade had reached $97 billion per year, 93 percent of which was conducted in the national currencies of its member states.

According to Temur, this strongly suggests that “the de-dollarization process is progressing rapidly” among Russia and its primary trading partners.

He listed the main items on the summit agenda as “developing technological cooperation, ensuring food security, and increasing national production capacity to reduce dependence on the West in various product groups.”

“Facilitating customs procedures between EAEU members through digitalization and reducing dependence on the dollar in foreign trade were also on the agenda,” Temur said.

In his keynote address, Putin noted that a free trade agreement between the EAEU and Iran had officially come into effect last month, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

“The situation in the Middle East is stabilizing,” he said. “The longstanding conflict between Israel and Iran is … now behind us.

“This development paves the way for us to cultivate closer ties with all countries across the region.”

Stanislav Pritchin, head of the Central Asia desk at Moscow’s Institute of World Economy and International Relations, said the summit in Minsk provided an opportunity for EAEU member states to compare notes and “discuss strategy.”

“For the Russian leadership in particular, it is an opportunity to garner political support and discuss closer political cooperation,” Pritchin told The Epoch Times.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 13, 2025. Maxim Shemetov /POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Russia–Belarus Strategic Alliance

On June 27, the second day of the summit, visiting heads of state took part in a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, the EAEU’s highest supranational body.

Putin was greeted at the Minsk presidential palace by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who described the meeting as a “good opportunity to discuss the international agenda with similarly minded people.”

“And the international agenda has been quite packed recently,” Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, was quoted as saying by the Belarusian state news agency BelTA.

Relations between Russia and Belarus go well beyond their shared membership in the EAEU. Since 1999, the two countries have been bound by a “Union State” treaty, which has cemented ties—economic and military—between the two neighbors.

According to TASS, Putin visited Belarus 11 times in 2024 alone. In December 2024, he attended a Minsk-hosted meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State to mark the treaty’s 25th anniversary.

Pritchin described relations between Russia and Belarus as “the closest and most strategic alliance in the post-Soviet space.”

“Minsk fully supported Russia’s [military] operation against Ukraine and faced the whole range of [Western] sanctions as a result,” he said. “For several years, Russia and Belarus have had quite close relations marked by a high level of interconnectedness and interdependence.”

The Armenian Wild Card

Unlike Belarus, Armenia, in recent years, has seen a crisis in its relations with Moscow, despite its being a longstanding nominal ally of Russia.

Last year, Pashinyan announced the suspension of Armenia’s relations with the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a six-nation military alliance led by Moscow.

In January, Armenia’s parliament approved legislation paving the way for a possible EU membership bid.

At the time, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said EU membership was “incompatible” with membership in the EAEU, warning that Armenia would have to “make a choice”  between the rival regional blocs.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Yerevan, Armenia, on Nov. 23, 2022. Hayk Baghdasaryan/Photolure via Reuters

Last week, Pashinyan announced that he would not attend the EAEU summit in person, but would participate via video link. A Kremlin spokesman called his decision “regrettable,” describing Armenia as a “very important member” of the EAEU.

It remains unclear why Pashinyan declined to attend the event in person. But last year, the Armenian prime minister declared that he would never visit Belarus “as long as Lukashenko is the president there” because of the latter’s stated support for Azerbaijan, Armenia’s longstanding regional nemesis.

Pritchin attributed Pashinyan’s absence to the fact that the Armenian leader is currently facing “serious internal challenges.”

“He is bracing for tough parliamentary elections next year and is now fighting with his political opponents,” Pritchin said.

On June 25, Armenian authorities detained more than a dozen people, including a prominent Christian cleric, on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.

The arrests came amid an escalating row between Pashinyan and Armenia’s Apostolic Church, several high-ranking members of which have demanded his resignation.

“Given these circumstances, Pashinyan’s decision [not to attend the Mink summit in person] is understandable,” Pritchin said.

According to Temur, there are “differences in perspectives on some geopolitical and foreign policy issues among EAEU members.”

“For example, not all EAEU members support Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war,” he said. “The fact that Pashinyan attended the summit online, rather than physically, should be seen as a diplomatic message to Putin.

“Similarly, it should not be overlooked that some EAEU member states, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are trying to develop bilateral trade and diplomatic relations with China, the U.S., and the EU, which sometimes bothers Russia.”

Reuters contributed to this report.