On the night of April 2, the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact around the separatist region of Karabakh erupted in the worst violence for two decades until a tenuous ceasefire ended hostilities three days later. What is notable about the brief violent conflict is that both... MORE

On March 29, the deputy head of the Georgian State Security Service, Levan Izoria, briefed a joint session of three parliamentary committees: defense and security, human rights and legal affairs (Civil Georgia, March 29). Normally, the State Security Service’s annual report to the parliament primarily... MORE

The escalation of tensions between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces along the line of contact (LOC) saw the outbreak of a five-day exchange of fire, the bloodiest since the 1994 ceasefire agreement. The latest clashes ended with a mutually agreed ceasefire on April 5. According... MORE

A concert by the Rustavi state academic Georgian folk song and dance ensemble in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, unexpectedly spiraled into a scandal. When news of Rustavi’s arrival in Vladikavkaz first emerged, South Ossetian activists started a campaign against the Georgian dance group’s... MORE

On March 31, after several days of deliberation (Imedi.ge, March 28), Georgia’s Republican Party (RP) declared that it would participate in the upcoming fall 2016 parliamentary elections separately from the Georgian Dream (GD) party. The two political parties have been partners in the ruling GD-led... MORE

The Lezgin ethnic group has been divided between southern Dagestan, in Russia, and northern Azerbaijan since the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Although the division between the Lezgins during the Soviet period was purely formal, after the demise of the Soviet... MORE

On March 14, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadiarov signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) granting it the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The SCO’s Secretary General Rashid Alimov told journalists, “Azerbaijan’s SCO dialogue partner status will allow it, by... MORE

Georgia is gearing up for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) upcoming summit in Warsaw, hoping to receive a “strong message” from the Alliance about strengthening their mutual ties (see EDM, March 11). Georgian leaders have accepted that Tbilisi will most likely not receive a... MORE

On March 10, in a rare tripartite deal, Georgia released four Ossetian prisoners, three of which were serving life sentences on charges of terrorism against the Georgian state. In exchange, the authorities of South Ossetia (Tskhinvali region) and Abkhazia released 14 Georgians, held in these... MORE

In February, Russian sources confirmed a $200 million loan to Armenia. The loan—extended by Moscow to allow Armenia to buy up-to-date Russian weapons—had been promised in June 2015 (see EDM, June 29, 2015). In a rather unusual manner, and contrary to the agreement’s confidentiality clause,... MORE