Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Belarus on June 26-27 to attend events commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a regional integration project that continues to showcase both ambition and strain among its members, Vedomosti reported.

The visit, announced earlier this week, will include Putin’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Forum and a meeting of the bloc’s top decision-making body, the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (SEEC). Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, June 24, Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the Russian leader would focus on deepening economic ties across the region.

“The first day of work in Minsk will be devoted to the Eurasian Economic Forum,” Ushakov said. “On the second day, the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council will convene.”

The EEU, established in 2015, includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, and has presented itself as a counterweight to Western economic institutions. But the absence of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from this week’s summit highlights growing fissures within the bloc.

Pashinyan had already informed EEU colleagues in December 2024 that he would participate via video link. His decision not to attend in person reflects an increasingly tense relationship with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who drew sharp criticism from Yerevan last year after publicly endorsing Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, calling it a “liberation war.” Lukashenko claimed the campaign had been coordinated in advance with Baku.

The Belarusian leader was quick to respond to Pashinyan’s remote participation, quipping last December: “Maybe there won’t be a TV for you to speak remotely.” According to Ushakov, however, a screen has now been arranged to allow the Armenian premier to address the council virtually.

Despite Pashinyan’s absence, the summit will bring together most EEU heads of state. In addition to Putin and Lukashenko, attendees include Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who arrived early this week. Cuba, along with Iran and Moldova, holds observer status in the union.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, said Ushakov, will send a video address “for understandable reasons,” a reference likely to internal constraints following recent political transitions in Tehran. Moldova, meanwhile, “has ignored all sessions since 2022,” Ushakov noted.

Beyond the core and observer members, a number of international guests will also attend the proceedings in Minsk, underscoring the bloc’s attempts to expand its geopolitical relevance. Among them are Nyam-Osoryn Uchral, First Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia and Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Executive Council of the emirate.

Putin’s presence in Minsk will be closely watched, not just for the optics of renewed integration, but for what it may signal about the Kremlin’s strategy to maintain influence among its traditional allies in the post-Soviet space – particularly as geopolitical alignments continue to shift amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and regional recalibrations in the South Caucasus.

While the EEU marks a decade of formal cooperation, the summit may offer more questions than answers about its future cohesion.