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

Over the last two years, United States President Donald Trump has sent six congratulatory letters to his Azerbaijani counterpart, President Ilham Aliyev. Collectively, these letters contained three important messages. First, they addressed Azerbaijan’s contribution to European energy security through the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) and... MORE

To buttress the country’s flagging economy, Moscow has counted on the Russian Federation being the primary transit route for Chinese goods being shipped to Europe. However, Beijing’s commitment to becoming the dominant player on the Northern Sea Route (The Barents Observer, June 7) as well... MORE