Expert: Let the capital be in Astana or Minsk, but not in Moscow

111121 Nasta Kazahi.mp3

Presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed a declaration on the Eurasian economic integration on Friday in Moscow. The President of Kazakhstan claimed that the Russian rouble could not be a single currency of the Eurasian Union. However, President of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka unexpectedly stated that he was not against the Russian currency to become the single one.

"The economic situation in Belarus is slightly different, — director of the center for political analysis of Kazakhstan Sultan Akimbekov comments upon the presidents' behaviour, — when Lukashenka says that he is ready to introduce the Russian rouble, then we all know about the difficulties which the Belarusian rouble suffered recently. Therefore, it would probably be beneficial for Belarus to go for the single currency in such situation".

The issue of sovereignty is more important for Kazakhstan, the political scientist says. Moreover, the Kazakhstani tenge is "one of the strongest currencies in our area".

Sultan Akimbekov: "The Russian rouble's rate may hesitate by 20% within a short period of time, while tenge is tied to the US dollar and there are no such major hesitations".

Euroradio: "So, you are saying that in a situation like this it is more important for Kazakhstan to keep sovereignty, than for Belarus?"

Sultan Akimbekov: "I wouldn't say so but in the currency issue it would be very beneficial for Belarus to get access to the Russian rouble. We understand Belarus' problems with currency. Belarus has problems with the trading balance. Kazakhstan doesn't have such problems...".

Apart from the single currency, they also discussed the issue of the Eurasian Union's capital. Nazarbayev suggested Astana. Deputy Director of the Kazakhstani institute of strategic research of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Lesya Karataeva thinks that this is not an attempt to пацягнуць на сябе коўдру.

Lesya Karataeva: "We are not speaking about hogging the blanket! Our state's foreign policy shows that we are not going to take advantage of anyone; we work for the common result. There are two countries which can be called Eurasian from the geographical point of view - Russia and Kazakhstan - as they have both European and Asian territorial parts."

According to Lesya Karataeva, many questions of the West would be answered if Astana is made a capital.

Director of the center for political analysis of Kazakhstan Sultan Akimbekov says that it is not essential where the center will be located - in Astana or in Minsk, only not in Moscow. He gives the example of the European Union.

Sultan Akimbekov: "In the European Union, the capital is not located in Berlin or Paris although Germany and France are the key countries... They pay serious attention to small countries. Therefore, I think that if the capital is allowed to be located not only in Astana, also in Minsk, but not in Moscow, it would demonstrate  that they preserve the factor of equality and sovereignty and that we are not talking about the economy of Kazakhstan being swallowed by the more powerful Russia".

Let us remind you, Nazarbayev suggested changing the working name "Eurasian Union" for a more neutral "Eurasian Integration" which probably shows that nothing is as smooth there as some media try to present it.