Latest Articles about South Caucasus
TANGERINE CRISIS IN SOUTH OSSETIA PROMPTS KREMLIN TO BACK AWAY FROM DEADLOCK WITH GEORGIA
On January 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he would allow the Russian ambassador to return to Georgia, after recalling him last October. At that time relations between Russia and Georgia had seriously deteriorated, and Moscow also imposed economic sanctions and cut all transportation... MORE
U.S. UNABLE TO NAME NEW ARMENIA ENVOY AMID GENOCIDE ROW
For months the Bush administration has been unable to appoint a new U.S. ambassador to Armenia due to a dispute with the influential Armenian community in the United States over the mass killings and deportations of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. The row broke out last... MORE
KARS-AKHALKALAKI-TBILISI-BAKU RAIL PROJECT SOON TO ROLL FORWARD
Thanks in large measure to Azerbaijan’s rapidly growing economic strength, the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku (KATB) railroad-building project can soon become a reality. The project had stalled for more than a decade, due to a lack of funding for the Georgian stretch of the line. Now Azerbaijan is... MORE
REGIONAL LEADERS SEAL KARS-AKHALKALAKI-TBILISI-BAKU RAILWAY DEAL
Last Saturday, January 13, representatives from the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey took a significant step forward in the realization of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway project, which will link Asia and Europe through the Caucasus. Representatives of three parties met in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi,... MORE
SHAH-DENIZ GAS BUTTRESSING GEORGIA, AZERBAIJAN ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY
At 10 pm local time on January 14, commercial production and the delivery flow of gas started at the first well of Azerbaijan’s giant offshore field Shah-Deniz, a BP-led project. In the afternoon of the following day, the first volumes of gas reached Georgia through... MORE
ARREST OF ARMENIAN “COUP PLOTTERS” RAISES QUESTIONS
Armenian authorities claim to have thwarted a coup d’etat that was allegedly planned by hard-line nationalists opposed to major concessions to Azerbaijan in the conflict over Karabakh. Two prominent veterans of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war were controversially arrested last month and now look set to stand... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S PRESIDENT TURNS DOWN GAZPROM’S “BLACKMAIL” PRICE
Azerbaijan has ceased importing gas from Russia as of January 1. Despite the anticipated shortage of gas in the country -- compounded by an unanticipated production delay at the international Shah Deniz gas project -- Azerbaijan has refused to pay $235 per 1,000 cubic meters... MORE
GEORGIA’S HARD-EARNED CHRISTMAS PRESENT: RUSSIAN MILITARY OUT OF TBILISI
On December 25, 2006, the last personnel of Russia’s garrison in Tbilisi and the rump Headquarters of the Group of Russian Forces in the Transcaucasus (GRVZ) pulled out of Georgia’s capital and of the country altogether. Their unwilling, though ultimately precipitate, withdrawal crowns 15 years... MORE
ARMENIA’S KOCHARIAN SEEKING CONTINUED ROLE IN GOVERNMENT
With just over one year to go before the end of his second and final term in office, Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian does not leave the impression of a man preparing for retirement. The past week has seen further indications that he wants to dominate... MORE
MOSCOW SELF-DISQUALIFYING AS PEACEKEEPER AND MEDIATOR IN ABKHAZ, SOUTH OSSETIAN CONFLICTS
The Russian Duma’s December 6 resolutions, calling for recognition of Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s secession from Georgia and their potential incorporation into Russia, are primarily geared to short-term tactical goals of Russian policy. These goals include: a) provoking Georgia into another spiral of bilateral confrontation... MORE