Opposition Leader Proposes Federation with Russia

A Kyrgyz opposition movement has proposed forming a confederation with Russia, but commentators say the country could achieve greater political and economic integration with Moscow without attempting to follow the Belarusian model of unification.



A People’s Kurultai, or congress, held by the opposition United Front for a Worthy Future for Kyrgyzstan, discussed the idea of a confederation on June 2. Delegates even agreed to collect the 300,000 needed to call a referendum on the issue.



According to Felix Kulov, former prime minister and leader of the United Front, unification with Russia would not mean Kyrgyzstan losing its sovereignty. Instead, he said, the two countries would share a common government budget, customs policy, economic space and currency.



Some politicians in Kyrgyzstan favour the idea of integration with the Russian Federation, and logically also with Belarus, which has been in the process of forming a union state with Russia since 1997.



“If we form a confederation with Russia, Kyrgyzstan stands to greatly benefit from an economic point of view. Kyrgyzstan is now in a desperate situation. Russia can help here,” said Orozbek Duysheev, leader of the Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan.



Political scientist Toktogul Kakchekeev agrees, saying that the broader union could help the Kyrgyz state survive.



“Many analysts are predicting that Kyrgyzstan will split into its northern and southern parts, and cease to be as a state. A confederation could help prevent that from happening,” he said.



Despite the lure of unification with Russia for some sections of Kyrgyz society, many believe it is simply unfeasible and political scientist Turat Akimov calls the idea “utopian”.



“No such union has ever been created in the post-Soviet region. The attempt to create a union between Belarus and Russia has not been success. It shows once again that the post-Soviet countries are not ready to form alliances,” he said.



Akimov believes Kulov is trying to capitalise on feelings of nostalgia for the former Soviet Union.



Political scientist Marat Kazakbaev argues that greater Kyrgyz-Russian integration can be achieved both through bilateral relations and within regional associations such as the Eurasian Economic Community, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.



“There’s no reason to create a confederation with Russia,” he said. “The preconditions already exist for strengthening economic integration and building closer security ties with the Russian Federation,” he said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)