On June 28–30, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili took part in the ceremonial portions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit held in Madrid, Spain. In general, this latest gathering of Alliance leaders not only did not bring about anything new or substantial for... MORE

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is sitting in prison after a Tbilisi court sentenced him to three and six years behind bars for abuse of power during his presidency (2004–2013), presented a historic initiative to resolve an existential problem of Georgian statehood: the status of... MORE

As Russian President Vladimir Putin approaches his 70th birthday and 23rd year in power, speculation about his possible successor has increasingly surfaced in newspaper articles, blog posts and even some official press releases (RIA Novosti, January 25; Meduza, April 7; T.me/CenterCounteringDisinformation, April 21). Predictably, most of... MORE

As expected, at the European Union summit in Brussels, on June 23, the European Council decided not to award membership candidate status to Georgia. The EU’s top agenda-setting body, composed of the bloc’s heads of state and government, only conceded its readiness to grant the... MORE

One after another, authorities in the North Caucasus republics are announcing the creation of volunteer units for fighting Ukraine. The Russian military command proposed the establishment of a Dagestani rifle company on the basis of the 136th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, stationed in Buinaksk,... MORE

After implementing a number of trans-Eurasian energy and logistics mega-projects, such as the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline, Southern Gas Corridor and Trans-Caspian International Transportation Route, Azerbaijan has also strategically committed itself to policies designed to turn the South Caucasus country into a regional digital hub (see... MORE

On June 20, approximately 30,000 pro-European Georgians gathered in the capital city of Tbilisi, on Rustaveli Avenue, near the parliament, where every important political event in modern Georgian history had taken place over the last 35 years (Svoboda.org, June 20). The Monday rally was organized... MORE

On June 8–10, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov paid a two-day visit to Yerevan, where he met with Armenian leaders and attended a foreign ministerial session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) (Armeniasputnik.am, June 8). His talks with the Armenian representatives and his statements... MORE

On June 3, the Georgian Ministries of Internal Affairs and Finance announced that all employees of the Border and Customs Department would begin operating each of the country’s physical border checkpoints continuously, in emergency mode, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (Businessfeed.ge, May... MORE

Although Turkey is no longer as dramatically active in the North Caucasus as during the 1990s, when it backed Chechen aspirations for independence, Ankara is quietly expanding its use of soft power mechanisms there. As Russian analyst Andrey Areshov writes, these overtures toward the region—increasingly... MORE