Kyrgyzstan and International Republican Institute

Alina: She, like everyone else interviewed for this article, requested that only her first name be used for fear of backlash from employers or family in a country where the concept of freedom of speech is nascent at best. "Prices will get higher, and I don't think our salaries will get higher with them," Alina said, according to The Moscow Times. Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in ex-Soviet Central Asia, with a per capita GDP of just under $1,300 in 2013, the last year for which World Bank data is available. Alina, a teacher in Bishkek and a native of the city, is one of many feeling apprehensive. "I can't imagine any positive outcomes," said the 24-year-old. Alina concerns are widespread in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. In spring 2011, an International Republican Institute poll conducted throughout Kyrgyzstan found that 74 percent of respondents fully or partially approved of joining the Customs Union. There has been a country-wide decline in public support for economic integration with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus since 2011, when President Almazbek Atambayev first seriously raised the question of joining the Customs Union, a Russia-led free trade bloc that on Jan. 1 this year morphed into the Eurasian Economic Union. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.