Kazakhstan has begun to “brake” its participation in the Eurasian Economic Union. Kirill Barsky, Ambassador on Special Assignment of the Russian Foreign Ministry, a high-ranking official of Russia at the CSTO, said at the Federation Council during a round table on “The Asia-Pacific vector of the Russian Federation’s foreign policy in the context of modern geopolitical changes”, RIA Novosti reports.

“We have problems, including within our union. Recently, Kazakhstan has begun to “brake” both its participation in the Eurasian Economic Union and in the work on the issue of greater Eurasia, this is a very concerning signal,” Barsky said.

But at the same time, in general, most of the EAEU countries support the centripetal tendencies in the face of a greater Eurasia, realizing that without such a major project, the Union will have to resort to “deaf defense”, where it will end up in isolation. These trends are also supported by non-EAEU countries, including China, India, and Mongolia.

The concept of the Greater Eurasian Partnership implies the creation of a network of free trade zones, inter-bloc trade and economic partnerships and the unification of regional integration processes on the Eurasian continent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin came up with the idea of creating a “Great Eurasian Partnership” in 2015. According to him, EAEU countries, those states with which Russia has close relations: China, India, Pakistan, Iran and CIS countries, as well as other states and associations, can become participants in the partnership.