PERSPECTIVE Engage! Why the European Union Should Talk with the Eurasian Economic Union ALEXANDRA VASILEVA September 2017 n Closer economic cooperation between the European Union(EU) and the Eurasian Economic Union(EEU; comprised of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyr­gyzstan) is desirable. It can serve as a platform to overcome the current stalemate between Russia and the West, lift common neighbourhood countries from their unsustainable»in-between« status and enhance the well-being of all participants. n Engagement between the EU and the EEU can serve as an economic path to peace­building and should run in parallel to the political resolution of conflicts such as the Minsk II process. So far, the unresolved crisis in Ukraine has been the biggest political obstacle preventing a formal dialogue between the EU and the EEU. n EU-EEU dialogue could be a preliminary small step towards solving more complicat­ed political crises in Europe. It has the potential to contribute to the establishment of a common and indivisible Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community as outlined by the OSCE Astana Declaration of 2010.