Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a state awards ceremony in Moscow's Kremlin March 24, 2014. REUTERS/Alexei Nikolskiy/RIA Novosti/Kremlin
ALMATY (Reuters) - With his biggest prize escaping his grasp in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is likely to turn to the autocrats of Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev, to further his aim of erecting a Eurasian Union of former Soviet states.
The Russian president's swift annexation of Crimea has earned him huge popularity at home but ends his dream for now of bringing the rest of Ukraine voluntarily into the new structure he plans to build on as much as possible of the ex-Soviet space.
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