The criticism of the EEU, whether it is accurate or not, is a major problem for Kyrgyzstan’s leadership which dragged the country into the trade bloc despite deep-rooted unease from ordinary Kyrgyz. Also in the EEU are Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia.

In Bishkek, Azamat, who was selling cars, said Kyrgyzstan had aligned itself with the wrong countries.

“While we are in the Customs Union we will have nothing to develop,” he said.

The Customs Union is the old name for the EEU, which analysts have said was dreamt up by the Kremlin to extend its political control.

Western sanctions and a collapse in oil prices have tipped Russia’s economy into a recession. It has cancelled overseas projects, including a hydropower plant in Kyrgyzstan, and remittance flows from Kyrgyz workers in Moscow have fallen by around 40%. Inflation is rising in Kyrgyzstan and economic growth rates are being cut – a familiar story across the region.

Emil Umetaliev, a former Kyrgyz economy minister who now owns a travel company, told The Conway Bulletin that the EEU has been a major hindrance to small and medium sized companies, rather than the help that had been promised.

“The Eurasian economic union tends to organise countries’ interdependence on resources,” he said. “It does not encourage small and medium enterprises to develop and does not have a friendly investment climate.”