The region between the large trade blocs in Europe and East Asia — the former Soviet space — also requires modern regional integration. The Eurasian Economic Union emerged as a response under Russian hegemonic leadership. The way to its establishment was long and challenging, passing through the CIS, EurAsEC, Customs Union, and the EAEU — a string of organizations with a diminishing membership. The founders of the EAEU aimed for a top-down, treaty-based structure based on voluntary participation, similar to the EU. They were successful in many aspects, moving the EAEU along Balassa’s stages of building regionalism. Yet, the Russian-led drive to integration in the former Soviet space met rising opposition from the West. Relations soured when the EU and the EAEU began disputing the allegiance of countries in between — Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and, especially, Ukraine. The dispute deepened due to its connection to the European security architecture and NATO’s expansion. The clash of the two integration projects over Ukraine intensified in 2013–2014 and became a factor in setting off the hostilities in 2022. Russia’s war against Ukraine, which received massive US and EU support in 2022–2024, evolved into a major confrontation among many actors in broader Eurasia. It evolved into an alarming security dilemma within the context of a Game of Chicken with many stakeholders, and it requires a solution.