Situated at the crossroads between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, the Caucasus region is heavily influenced by these two regional superpowers - writes James Wilson. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers last week, intending to broker a lasting peace treaty between […]
Throughout April, Russia has escalated its political and militarypressure on its neighbor Georgia. At the NATO summit in Bucharest,President Vladimir Putin reportedly threatened to recognize theindependence of the breakaway autonomous republics of Abkhazia andSouth Ossetia if Georgia was granted a Membership Action Plan (MAP)for eventual accession to NATO. On April 16, despite France andGermany balking at providing a MAP, and apparently as retributionfor the West's recognition of Kosovo's independence, Putininstructed the Russian Foreign Ministry to upgrade the legal andeconomic ties between Russia and the secessionist governments ofAbkhazia and South Ossetia, violating Georgian sovereignty.
(Archived document, may contain errors) , I 892 April 17,1992 STRATEGIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS By Andxei Kortunov EL. Wiegand Fellow INTRODUCTION There is widespread concern in thewest about the future of relations with the re mblics of the fanner Soviet Union. Almost as hportant is the future of relations be ween those newly independent republics.
I’m led to a ramshackle table with several paper-cup towers and two long, unlabelled bottles of clear liquid. One hour later, in fluent Georgian, I explained not only the general secrets of the universe to my new friends, but for the first time since I could remember, I knew exactly what to do.
For many years, the Black Sea was largely ignored by geostrategists. But with Russia s invasion of Ukraine and its aggressive posturing elsewhere in the region, countries along its shores find themselves on a dangerous fault line. How are they dealing with their belligerent neighbor?