Latest Articles about South Caucasus
Flash Skirmishes in Nagorno-Karabakh: Triggers and Prospects
Between July 30 and August 4, flash skirmishes erupted along the Armenia-Azerbaijan contact line. While small-scale ceasefire violations have been relatively common, the recent events caused the highest casualty rates this frozen conflict has seen since 2008. According to official sources, 13 Azerbaijani soldiers were... MORE
Is Russia Resuming a Trade War Against Georgia?
The Russian government has announced the imminent suspension of the Free Trade Regime between the Russian Federation and Georgia, which had been in place since 1994, following Georgia’s accession to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Civil Georgia, July 31). Moscow established the same regime... MORE
Russian Aggression Prevention Act of 2014: Ramifications for the South Caucasus
With the implementation of new Western sanctions against Russia as a result of the continued instability in eastern Ukraine, the other post-Soviet countries are closely monitoring foreign policy developments inside the United States. The rapidly cooling relations between Washington and Moscow were most recently borne... MORE
Georgian Prime Minister Reshuffles the Cabinet to Divert the Blame
On July 21, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced the first major cabinet reshuffle since the Georgian Dream (GD) coalition came to power in October 2012. The shake-up affected seven ministers: two were moved from one cabinet post to another, while the other five lost... MORE
Eurasian Union Can Live With Armenian Occupation of Azerbaijani Lands, Moscow Expert Says
Many commentators in Moscow, Baku and Ankara have expressed the hope that the inclusion of countries in the South Caucasus in Moscow’s Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) will lead to the resolution of the Karabakh dispute. But a Russian expert says that the inclusion of Armenia... MORE
Documentary Appears About Azerbaijani Fighters in Syria
As the Syrian conflict enters its fourth year, more media attention has recently been devoted to the growing number of Azerbaijanis fighting in the war. Increased appearances by Azerbaijanis in various videos, online discussions and news releases have attracted wider attention from journalists to find... MORE
Moldova’s Gagauzia: A Model for Resolution of Karabakh Dispute?
Over the last 25 years, many proposals have been suggested for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Among them have been a swapping of territories between the two former Soviet republics and autonomy for Karabakh at the level approaching that of... MORE
Widening Azerbaijani Investment in Dagestan Sparks Resentment Among Lezgins
Earlier this month, the well-known Dagestani weekly newspaper, Novoe Delo, attacked the mayor of the city of Derbent for what it regarded as a servile attitude toward neighboring Azerbaijan. Journalist Ramazan Rajabov wrote: “Against all the protests and clamor by the local Lezgin population, the... MORE
Arrest of Opposition Leader Jeopardizes Georgia’s European Integration
A Tbilisi city court has refused to release Gigi Ugulava, the former mayor of the Georgian capital, out on bail, instead sentencing him to two months in pre-trial detention. Ugulava is fighting a series of charges brought against him by the Prosecution and the investigative... MORE
Russian-backed Abkhaz Separatist Regime Steps Up Discrimination of Ethnic Georgians
On June 30, the Abkhaz separatist regime announced that it would remove from the voter lists 22,787 ethnic Georgians living in the Russian-occupied Abkhazia. The separatist regime officials claimed that those people acquired so-called “Abkhaz passports” illegally and hence, as non-citizens, they could not qualify... MORE