Sergei Glazyev, who was appointed on April 17 as State Secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union State, addressed the mission of his newly-formed “Club of People’s Unity,” founded along with his two co-chairs, Mykola Azarov, former Prime Minister of Ukraine (2010-14) and Alexander Kazakov, former advisor to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Glazyev stressed the importance for the current moment of actualizing the common heroic past of Ukraine and Russia, so that their fellow citizens could see the future. He said he considered the current model of the Union State optimal, and he expressed the hope that after all its present trials, Ukraine will return to the common (Slavic) family. “The Union State is an excellent model of how it is possible, while preserving state sovereignty, to live, in fact, in one country, with equal rights, equal opportunities—to use the common economic, socio-cultural space.” Glazyev spoke in Minsk on April 26, answering questions from journalists.
Glazyev added: “When I was born in the city of Zaporozhye, we had no separation by nationality [ethnicity]. We all felt like residents of the same country. Most of my classmates moved to Moscow and other Russian cities.” In the future, Ukraine would have the option of joining the Union State, despite the fact that today such a scenario seems unthinkable.