Kyrgyzstan on Thursday became the fifth member of the Moscow-backed economic bloc of former Soviet countries, a move firmly linking the Central Asian republic to Russia at the risk of disrupting trade with China. The impoverished nation of 6 million people signed accession papers for the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in December, but had to wait for the bloc's four other members - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia - to ratify its entry. The bloc's main regulatory body said Wednesday Kyrgyzstan would officially become its fifth member on Aug. 6 after its membership was formally approved by neighboring Kazakhstan. In 1998, Kyrgyzstan was the first of the ex-Soviet states to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has since grown into a hub for the re-export of Chinese goods throughout the region after Beijing joined the WTO in 2001.