Tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh are far from over, and that places Russia in a very uncomfortable situation: trying to maintain friendly relations with two strategic allies while getting them both to the negotiating table.
By Pavel Koshkin
The frozen ...
... Nagorno-Karabakh and her former parent-state Azerbaijan between April 2–5, 2016, or the Four Day War, as it will soon be labeled in the professional discourse, have now ended with a truce, agreed upon in Moscow between the Chiefs of the General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Yuri Khachaturov and Najmaddin Sadigov on April 5. The terms of ceasefire, supposedly, will become subject for longer-term deliberations among the diplomats of all sides engaged, spearheaded by the so-called Minsk Group of the ...
... truce in May 1994), having previously used howitzers, mortars and multiple artillery rocket systems. Given the exacerbation of relations between Moscow and Ankara, the Karabakh dimension of the Russian-Turkish crisis is assuming a new significance.
Armenia amid the Russian-Turkish crisis
Relations between Turkey and Armenia are already tense. They are burdened by many historical problems, the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I above all. The countries have no diplomatic ...
... permanent basis in mid-February 1997. In November 2007, the three co-chairing countries set forth the principles of the peace settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which are known as the Madrid Principles. They provided for the phased withdrawal of Armenian armed forces (AF) and the demilitarization of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as for the introduction of a special regime for the Lachin and Kelbajar districts, including the creation of a transport corridor linking Armenia ...
... with the centre of former military, economic and political power, which is now embodied by the Russian Federation as the legal successor to the USSR. Of the 15 former republics of the Soviet Union, four have no diplomatic relations with one another (Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia). Unregulated border disputes are the bane of practically all Central Asian states. Russia and Ukraine have not broken diplomatic relations formally, but relations between the two countries are at their lowest ...
Russian-Armenian relations play a key role in both Armenia's foreign policy and Russia’s regional strategy in the South Caucasus. A Russian military base is located in Armenia, while Russian border guards also ensure the protection of Armenia’s borders ...
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A Different Interpretation of “the Caucasus Concert”
To date, problems in Transcaucasia are not a priority on the global agenda. However, the proximity of the region to the Middle East (three Transcaucasian republics border Turkey, while Armenia and Azerbaijan have common borders with Iran), to Central Asia (through the Caspian Sea), to the European Union (the Black Sea), and to Russia (the country’s territory includes the North Caucasus) has made the region into an intersection ...
Стратегическая значимость Армении
The mass protests that swept Yerevan and other Armenian cities in June 2015 put Armenia at the focus of attention of politicians and experts. Ostensibly, the protests were triggered by the June 2015 decision of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) to raise electricity tariffs
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Protests ...
Interview with Vagram Ter-Matevosian and Arshaluis Mgdesian
In January 2015, Armenia became an official member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), having refused to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union. Armenia has no common borders with the Customs Union member states; therefore, its EEU accession treaty includes ...
... post-Soviet South Caucasus countries have not yet accumulated sufficient experience in conducting their own “festive and commemorative” policies. Before they became independent countries as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia shared symbols and festive dates with all the other republics (the majority of these dates were associated with the establishment of the Soviet power there). The experience of national statehood after the disintegration of the Russian ...