Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree, on June 21, approving the Draft Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. And he encouraged President Vladimir Putin to ultimately sign the Convention (Pravo.gov.ru, June 22). Even though the complete official text of the... MORE

The period of relative calm in Armenian politics that followed the May 8 election of protest leader Nikol Pashinyan as the new head of government (see EDM, May 22) may have come to an end. The new cabinet had previously announced that anti-corruption measures would... MORE

Moscow suffered a major military-diplomatic defeat recently in Kyzyl, the capital of the Siberian Russian Republic of Tuva. During the opening session of the Commonwealth of Independent States’ (CIS) Defense Ministers Council, the chief of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, urged the CIS... MORE

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced his resignation, on June 13 (Civil Georgia, June 13). For those following the protest rallies in Tbilisi, Kvirikashvili’s departure may not have seemed particularly unexpected. Thousands of Georgians had, for weeks, gone out into the streets, calling for the... MORE

On June 11, Azerbaijan unveiled its newly-acquired Polonez multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS, with a range of 300 kilometers) and LORA ballistic missile complexes (400 km), purchased from Belarus and Israel, respectively. Both weapons systems are designed to target major military bases and operational facilities located... MORE

On June 11, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev showed off the Belarusian-produced Polonez multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) and the Israeli-made LORA tactical ballistic missile system (President.az, June 11). The delivery of these rocket and missile systems from Belarus and Israel have military, political and psychological implications... MORE

Ankara’s announcement last week (June 6) that it will begin building a railroad up to the Turkish border with Nakhchivan later this year, combined with news of Baku’s redeployment of military forces along the Armenian border of that non-contiguous portion of Azerbaijan (see EDM, June... MORE

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, on May 29, officially inaugurated the first phase of his country’s long-awaited flagship Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project, through which Caspian-basin natural gas (from the offshore Shah-Deniz field) will be transported to Europe (Azernews, May 29). The new project consists of... MORE

As the five Caspian littoral states—Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran—move toward an agreement on the re-division of the Caspian Sea (see EDM, November 7, 2017), an action made necessary by the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has strengthened its flotilla there in order... MORE

A so-called “Nationwide Protest Action” will be held in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, on June 10. This decision was made by the Council of Opposition Parties after Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili refused to resign (Kommersant, June 5). The opposition accuses the government of... MORE