Following a series of protests and heightened tensions earlier this year at the Davit Gareja/Keshikchidag monastery complex (see EDM, May 14, June 6), which straddles the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia, an even more serious incident occurred there on July 15. That day, a group... MORE

The political crisis continues in Georgia, as crowds angry at Russia and their own government refuse to vacate the streets of Tbilisi. The ongoing standoff began on June 20, when tens of thousands of Georgians came out to protest the arrogant actions of Russian parliamentarian... MORE

The armed forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey conducted two late-spring joint exercises, around Baku (on May 1–3) and in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan (June 7–11). The goal of these drills was to increase the level of coordination and interoperability between the two militaries, to... MORE

Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze visited Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 20. While meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ogtay Asadov, the latter noted that Azerbaijan as well as Georgia suffer from separatism and territorial losses, which obstruct their political-economic progress; otherwise, the Baku-based lawmaker... MORE

On June 19–20, the ministers of foreign affairs of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Elmar Mammadyarov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, respectively, visited Washington, where they met with United States National Security Advisor John Bolton (Mfa.gov.az, June 19; Panorama.am, June 20). According to the foreign ministries of the two... MORE

Mikhail Babich, the former Russian ambassador to Belarus, has been put in charge of integration efforts covering the entire Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Kremlin had to pull Babich out of Minsk at the end of April because he had so offended President Alyaksandr... MORE

A new escalation in the long-running conflict between Russia and Georgia happened almost by chance last week (starting on June 20), but it answered the anxious desire in the Kremlin to move Russia proactively from the path of gradual decline. Russian President Vladimir Putin likely... MORE

On Rustaveli Avenue, in central Tbilisi, a rally of pro-Western opposition and student organizations has assembled near the Georgian parliament building and continues into its fifth day. On this spot began all of the most important events in the modern history of Georgia, including the... MORE

On the night of June 10, around two hundred young Dagestanis gathered to protest at a road sign that had been installed on the outskirts of the city of Kizlyar, Dagestan, only several hours before. The signpost, which the demonstrators ultimately dismantled, read “Chechen Republic,... MORE

Recent developments around the construction of a new deep-water port in Anaklia, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, have reinforced skepticism that the “project of the century” (as it has come to be known domestically) will ever be able to attract sufficient foreign investment and become... MORE