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"And here comes in the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. "
Niccolö Machiavelli, The Prince
Introduction
The Ukrainian crisis of 2013, followed by the annexation of Crimea, has redistributed the balance of power among the political players of the world arena. Moreover, since Putin's return to the presidency in 2012, the concept of a shared neighborhood between the Russian Federation and the European Union (EU) becomes a strategic challenge not only for both but foremost for those post-Soviet republics struggling between two strategic decisions: to accept Russian protection or to choose Western development.1
The aim of this paper is to shed light on the forthcoming 2015 Eurasian Economic Union's (EEU) economic and political perspectives, on South Ossetia and Abkhazia's economic attractiveness, the sentiment inside those breakaway regions of Georgia and the Russian Federation standpoint in resolving or maintaining the situation in the disputed territories.
Originating in 2009, the Eurasian Customs Union or Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia (CU) came into existence on 1 January 2010 as an attempt to establish a defensible economic integration model. However, the EEU was also enthused by the creation of the Eastern Partnership (EaP), an initiative of the European Union to establish closer ties with the six post-Soviet countries in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine), designed to promote regional stability between the EU and its Eastern neighbors trough trade and economic agreements, and democratic institutions building.2 Aimed at supporting these countries in overcoming economic and political challenges, the EaP was perceived by the Russian government as a platform for the European Union's (EU) enlargement, close to Russia's borders and its strategic "near abroad," thereby threatening Russia's national, geopolitical and security interests.
Since 1990, Russia has openly resisted any North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion towards its periphery3 and reemphasized this rhetoric several times: in 2004 when Georgia declared its intention of Euro-Atlantic integration; during the war in South Ossetia in 2008 by "sending a strong message to Ukraine that its insistence on NATO membership may lead to war and/or its dismemberment"4; and, most recently, when Ukraine's fomented domestic crisis over the European Trade Association Agreement resulted in Putin's...