Interfax: Russia has no wish to restore USSR though integration has benefits for former Soviet republics – Matviyenko

MOSCOW. Dec 20 (Interfax) – The statements of people accusing Russia of imperial ambitions or aspiration to restore the Soviet Union are groundless, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said. “No one wants to restore anything and it is impossible already, so such statements are absolutely baseless,” Matviyenko said at an integration club meeting in the Russian Geographical Society.

It is a different matter “that no one can deny the right of the states, which were in the same union for many years, to integrate in a single structure, from which all parties will benefit, and when establishing integration unities, the countries-members are not friends against someone, they act firstly in their own interests,” Matviyenko said.

“Integration processes in the post-Soviet space will expand if they are attractive in terms of conditions and will be beneficial for national economies,” Matviyenko said.

“For instance, not just CIS countries but other states as well are looking at the Customs Union, which has shown its efficiency and attractiveness for the countries, which are part of it,” Matviyenko said.

The Eurasian Economic Union will start work at a full scale by January 2015, Matviyenko said. “The process of the Eurasian Economic Union is proceeding in an orderly manner and it is expected that drafting basic agreements will be completed in the first six months of 2014 and I think that the Eurasian Economic Union will start its work on January 1, 2015 – no obstacles exist for this,” Matviyenko said.