While, in early September, Armenia announced that it had frozen its membership "at all levels" in another Russian-led alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin arrived in Tashkent in August to hold talks with Uzbek officials about potentially joining the EAEU, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the new "center of a multipolar world."Following a meeting with Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Mishustin promised Tashkent "business benefits," "new markets," and "fair competition." Despite the Russian promises, a parliamentary commission that studied about a thousand of the EAEU's foundational documents "did not find any benefits for Uzbekistan," Saidov said.Saidov added that Kazakhstan has not benefited much from its participation in the EAEU either, and thus, it will be "optimal" for Uzbekistan to remain in observer status and maintain its independence and sovereignty.At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Uzbekistan declared that it did not recognize the proxy authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and supported Ukraine's territorial integrity.

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https://kyivindependent.com/uzbekistan-refuses-to-join-eurasian-economic-union-which-includes-russia/