Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, front, listens at a meeting on Russian- Belarusian Custom Union issues in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. The 1996 union agreement envisaged close political, economic and military ties, but stopped short of a full merger. Moscow has been Belarus' main sponsor, but the allies have run into increasingly sharp economic arguments.
(AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)