Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a surprise official visit to Azerbaijan, on September 27. The formal reason for his arrival was to hold talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as well as to jointly attend the Ninth Interregional Russia-Azerbaijan Forum (Kremlin.ru, September 27; AzerNews, September... MORE

On September 25–27, the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan (MoDIAR) hosted the defense-industry exhibition ADEX-2018 in Baku, where leading defense companies from European and Asian countries showcased their latest military products (Mod.gov.az, September 25). ADEX turned out to be a useful platform to promote... MORE

Like the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) against which it is arrayed, the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development has for years attracted attention less for what it is doing than for the fact that it has survived. Established in 1997 by Georgia, Ukraine,... MORE

In a statement published on the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) website, on September 21, 2018, the alliance’s Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, who is from Armenia, declared, “We have serious concerns about the recent frequent fire at the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border, as well as communities... MORE

While crises in the Middle East, Ukraine and East Asia occupy much of the world’s headlines, interesting and significant dynamics have been driving events in the Caucasus in recent months. Clearly, Armenia’s “Velvet Revolution” of May 2018 has shaken up the political landscape across the... MORE

Of all the international borders in the Caucasus, the one between Azerbaijan and Georgia would appear to be the least problematic. The two countries have good relations as partners within GUAM (the loose political association of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova). And several key east-west... MORE

Recent weeks and months have seen at least five key developments that appear to demonstrate a renewed rapprochement between Baku and Moscow: First, on July 1, a group of high-profile Russian public figures, members of parliament (MP) and experts visited Azerbaijan’s village of Jojug Marjanli... MORE

The governments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran and Turkmenistan gathered in the Kazakhstani port city of Aktau, on August 12, and signed the Convention on the Caspian Sea’s Legal Status. Among other important points, Article 14 of the Convention recognizes the parties’ right to lay... MORE

In an interview last month (August 16) with the media outlet Azeri Daily, Azerbaijani member of parliament and the head of the Azerbaijan-Russia inter-parliamentary group, Ali Huseynli, suggested that, considering the changed geopolitical conditions in the South Caucasus, “it would be possible [he later also... MORE

The Azerbaijani State Oil Company (SOCAR) announced, on July 27, the formation of a new corporate entity that will oversee the future development of the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) project. The proposed pipeline is designed to deliver Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe—namely to the Balkan region.... MORE