Potential for economic cooperation between Russia and the CIS countries

The paper studies the specifics of integration processes in the space of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The development of foreign trade and foreign direct investments has been analyzed. The distinguishing features of integration processes have been revealed. The potential for cooperation between the countries has been estimated. It has been shown that the level of the economic integration of Russia with the CIS countries has unstable dynamics. The results obtained allow concluding that the greatest potential is in the cooperation between Russia and the CIS countries in trade, mainly with those countries that are also members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). It has been established that the potential for the development of cooperation in the production and innovation spheres between the CIS countries is significantly lower than the potential for the development of foreign trade. This is because direct investments are much more inert in comparison with trading operations. The obtained results confirm the experts' opinion on the predominant development of integration processes in the CIS format along the path of creating high value-added chains of products.