On September 13, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claimed that the Armenian Armed Forces had committed large-scale provocations in the areas of Dashkasan, Kalbajar and Lachin at the Azerbaijani-Armenian border (Mod.gov.az, September 13). Armenia denies these allegations (Armradio.am, September 13). Shortly thereafter, severe hostilities commenced between... MORE

Amid heightened tensions between Russia and Kazakhstan over the war in Ukraine, Astana is betting on high-level diplomacy to build international support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Pope Francis’ visit on September 13 for a highly publicized global interreligious summit coincided with the first... MORE

Samarkand did not go well for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit hosted by Uzbekistan in the ancient city gathered many leaders of various Eurasian states, from Belarus to Mongolia. But it was Putin’s meeting with Chinese Chairman (the title Putin... MORE

The Western sanctions imposed on Russia due to its aggression against Ukraine include a ban on overland cargo transit through Russian territory. This situation has highlighted new promising prospects for Georgia as a transit country (see EDM, April 19, April 20, June 9). Indeed, Georgia... MORE

In her July 13 speech in the European Parliament (EP), Lithuanian parliamentarian Rasa Jukneviciene stressed, when talking about the problems of Georgian democracy, that the main challenge goes by the name of one rich man. “Georgia seems to be in the captivity of one person,”... MORE

As Russia’s illegal re-invasion of Ukraine continues, a number of ramifications extend to the Russian domestic political scene with some, such as Yale University historian Timothy Snyder, positing on the incredible rise of the far right in Russia. Even so, the Cossacks appear to be... MORE

On November 12, 2021, at the eighth (and final) summit of the Turkic Council in Istanbul, Turkey, the group’s name was changed to the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and Turkmenistan was admitted as an observer state (Turkkon.org, accessed July 20). Simultaneously, the document “View... MORE

The Russo-Ukrainian War, now entering its seventh month, has dramatically altered the dynamics of intra-Chechen politics and, rather unexpectedly, brought the half-forgotten issue of Chechnya’s difficult, often adversarial relations with Moscow to the fore. Even preceding the Kremlin’s re-invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022,... MORE

In the period between the announcement of Washington’s “reset” policy toward Russia following the Kremlin’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and its re-invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States’ engagement with the South Caucasus was limited. During this time, US policies on the... MORE

When President Vladimir Putin signed Russia’s new naval doctrine on July 31, most commentators, both in Moscow and abroad, focused on his ambitious plans for Russia’s blue water navy and especially its expansion into the Arctic. One aspect of the new doctrine, however—its elevation of... MORE