Latest Articles about South Caucasus
STEINMEIER’S PLAN ON ABKHAZIA: BENIGN INTENTIONS, LIMITED RELEVANCE, BLOCKED BY MOSCOW
Germany distributed its plan for a political settlement of the Abkhazia conflict within the European Union’s Political and Security Committee --- which includes 27 delegations --- simultaneously with Germany’s presentation of the plan in Tbilisi, Sukhumi, and Moscow. Drafted by the German Ministry of Foreign... MORE
MOSCOW, SOKHUMI STOP GERMAN PLAN BEFORE THE START
German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier landed in Georgia on July 17 to promote a German plan for resolution of the Abkhazia conflict. The plan's general outline had emerged through semi-official reports in the German press during the preceding fortnight. The German MFA's special... MORE
RUSSIA RESURRECTS THE LEZGIN ISSUE IN AZERBAIJAN AT MOSCOW CONFERENCE
On May 14 and 15 the Russian Academy of State Service under the President of the Russian Federation hosted the conference “Cultural Heritage, Culture of the Lezgin People: History and Modernity,” which was organized by the Ministry of Regional Development with support from the Ministry... MORE
“DE-RECOGNITION” OF GEORGIA’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY DISQUALIFIES RUSSIA AS “PEACEKEEPER”
Russia has practically ceased to recognize Georgia’s territorial integrity. International organizations are as usual behind the curve in taking note of this development and drawing the conclusions from it. Russia had paid lip service to Georgia’s territorial integrity throughout the duration of the conflicts in... MORE
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT IN BAKU: DID HE GET WHAT HE WANTED?
Newly elected President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev paid his first official visit to Azerbaijan where he met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and leaders of the various religious denominations in the country. He also visited the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which preserves the... MORE
GUAM SHOWS ITS RESILIENCE AT BATUMI SUMMIT
The GUAM Summit just held in Batumi (see EDM, July 7) demonstrated that Georgia and Azerbaijan compose GUAM’s solid core; that Ukraine’s governing political forces are committed to GUAM while the evenly matched opposition forces are uncommitted; that Moldova is on the verge of abandoning... MORE
GUAM’S BATUMI SUMMIT BUILDS PARTNERSHIPS AMID CHALLENGES
GUAM consultations with the Partner Countries take place in the specially designed GUAM Plus framework. This operates, as it did in Batumi, through individual formats involving Poland, Lithuania, the United States, and now additionally the Czech Republic and Japan. Presidents Lech Kaczynski of Poland and... MORE
GUAM SUMMIT HELD AMID ADVERSE TRENDS ON ENERGY AND THE FROZEN CONFLICTS
Leaders of the GUAM group of countries--Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova--and of GUAM Partner countries (Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Czech Republic) held the annual GUAM summit on July 1 in Batumi, Georgia. Under the motto, “GUAM: Integrating Europe’s East,” a signal that the European Union... MORE
GEORGIA LAUNCHES A THREE-TRACK DIPLOMATIC EFFORT ON ABKHAZIA
Georgia has ruled out a confrontational response to Russia’s accelerating seizure of Abkhazia since April 16. Eschewing a military standoff, Tbilisi has devised a political-diplomatic response in expectation of Western support for such an approach. The European Union-Russia summit in Khanty-Mansiisk on June 26 and... MORE
GEORGIA HIGH ON THE EU-RUSSIA SUMMIT AGENDA
The European Union has decided to make an issue of Russia’s assault on Georgia at the EU-Russia summit in Khanty-Mansiisk on June 26 and 27. This decision, and the surge of attention to Georgia within the EU, are unprecedented and were almost forced on the... MORE