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

On May 22, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and President Ilham Aliyev, respectively, met in Brussels for talks under mediation by Charles Michel, the president of the European Council. The event was a follow-up to their previous three European Union–mediated... MORE

Azerbaijan intends to contribute to Europe’s energy security by developing into a regional “green” energy hub, the government officially announced on May 9, at The World Utilities Congress, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Minenergy.gov.az, May 9). In line with such goals, several days earlier,... MORE

On April 21, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denounced the European Union for allegedly seeking to inject itself into the high-level Russian-Azerbaijani-Armenian agreements on the delimitation of the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the restoration of regional transport... MORE

The Russo-Ukrainian war has had a direct impact on the status of the various China–Central Asia–Russia–Europe transit corridors that traverse Eurasia. The Northern Corridor branch of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in particular, has faced serious challenges and limitations, forcing a halt to the... MORE

Last month (April), European Union officials stepped up their efforts to mediate a political settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, while the two governments agreed to establish a bilateral commission on border demarcation and security (Azatutyun.am, April 7; see EDM, April 14). These developments raised anticipation... MORE

The Russo-Ukrainian war, the extensive sanctions against Russia that the West adopted in response, and the growing possibility that European border states will block east-west transit routes traversing Russian territory into Europe, including the so-called Northern Corridor of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), are... MORE

In early April, high-level Italian and French delegations traveled separately to Azerbaijan to discuss cooperation in the energy sector, including natural gas exports and “green” electricity generated from Caspian-basin wind (Minenergy.gov.az, April 2, 8). The twin visits occurred against the background of mounting anxieties about... MORE

It is possible to argue that the weightiest consequence of the 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in September–November 2020 was not Baku’s victory over Armenian forces but rather the return of Russian troops to the region in the form of “peacekeepers” in Karabakh (see... MORE