Putin Wants New Eurasian Economic Union

Russian PM: No, it won't be like the U.S.S.R. Nope, not at all ...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he wants to create a new economic union between the former states of the Soviet Union. Putin, who will likely be voted back into the presidency come March, made certain to say that the new Eurasian economic union would NOT be a resurrection of the U.S.S.R. and all the good times that came along with that, but will instead seek to introduce a common currency and harmonize monetary and agricultural policy among its member states, much like the European Union. The new union would be an expansion of the current Customs Union, of which Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan are members. Putin said membership would be open to anyone in Europe or Asia who wants to join, although we're not too sure how much desire there is in Eastern Europe or the Caucasus to enter an economic partnership with Russia, given how everything worked out last time.