DUSHANBE, February 13, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Russian president Dmitry Medvedev stated on February 12 that Russia is not going to artificially draw Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan into a Single Economic Space (SES), Russian news agency Interfax reported.

“We have made all decisions on the SES and will fulfill them in the given period.  However, it does not mean that we are going to artificially draw Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan into the SES,” Medvedev said following the session on energy problems in Omsk.

According to Interfax, he noted that these countries are not ready for that yet.  Besides, Russia has matters to discuss with some of these countries, Medvedev added.

“They are our partners but it does not mean that we must give them unfounded preferences.  Yes, SES is Belarus and Kazakhstan.  As for other countries, please let me decide and I will decide subject to behavior of leaders of these countries,” Medvedev stressed.

We will recall that the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed to create the SES by January 1, 2012.  Russian President Medvedev, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a package of deals on November 27, 2009 in Minsk to create a customs union with common tariffs, paving the way for a single economic space.