On February 20, former interior minister (2004–2012) and former prime minister (2012) Vano Merabishvili was released from prison in Tbilisi, where he spent six years and nine months in solitary confinement (Interpressnews February 20). Merabishvili—widely known as the “Georgian strongman” during his time in government... MORE

On February 10, the authorities jailed Giorgi “Gigi” Ugulava, the secretary general of the opposition party European Georgia (EG), on charges of allegedly embezzling some $17 million while serving as mayor of Tbilisi (2005–2013). Ugulava’s arrest undermined the planned next round of Western-mediated talks between... MORE

In the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, the Russian Armed Forces—mainly via their “proxy,” Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army—are confronting Turkish military units (see EDM, January 30, February 18), putting severe strains on the Moscow-Ankara relationship. But Russian military activities along Turkey’s borders are not... MORE

From Russia’s perspective, the conflicts it has itself instigated in the greater Black Sea region are strictly separate cases. Moscow regards the conflicts over Ukraine’s Crimea and Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia as settled and closed. By contrast, Russia seeks political settlements to the active... MORE

Since the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation’s relations with its immediate Black Sea neighbors—the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine—have veered from frigid to open conflict. Russia engaged in a brief war in 2008 with Georgia; then, six years later,... MORE

Russia’s political-military leadership frequently criticizes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for its enlargement and for staging military exercises close to Russian borders. This pattern has intensified since Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent downturn in its relations with the United States... MORE

The three countries of the South Caucasus—Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan—found themselves in a precarious situation following the United States’ killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, on January 3, 2020, due to their parallel relationships with both Tehran and Washington. Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan offered... MORE

A series of turbulent political events, anti-liberal processes and degrading security conditions in the region that unfolded in 2019 have left Georgia at a perilous crossroads ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 31, 2020. The main question that many local politicians and experts... MORE

On November 12, the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) apprehended al-Bara al-Shishani, a leader of the Russian-speaking faction of Islamic State (IS). Al-Bara was arrested in a private house located in the region surrounding Kyiv. According to SBU officials, al-Bara had been residing in Ukraine since... MORE

Iran’s approach to the three countries of the South Caucasus—Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia—is derivative of its concerns to keep its geopolitical opponents, the United States, Turkey and Israel, from being able to threaten the Islamic Republic from the north. At the same time, despite the... MORE