Caucasus
Russia conundrum in the Caucasus and beyond
A growing number of former Soviet republics, including Russia’s allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), are distancing themselves from the Kremlin. Moscow…
Beijing’s interest in the Middle Corridor
Reports of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s recent visit to China and his meeting with President Xi Jinping suggest that Beijing remains interested in the…
Putin steps abroad, even as an international warrant hangs over his head
Over the years, Russia has sought to preserve its sphere of influence with most former Soviet republics using the instrument of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). But…
Russia, Ukraine and the wars of the Soviet succession
Nearly one year since the Russian invasion, no end is in sight to the war in Ukraine. It’s become a conflict of grinding, static attrition, largely due to the constraints on…
How Russia loses allies amid the war in Ukraine
Russia continues to lose influence around the world, above all in the post-Soviet space. The Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) seems to be the last…
Full throttle: Australia’s advantages alongside Azerbaijan
Historically, Azerbaijan was known as the world capital of black caviar. More recently, in the years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the thorny issue of the disputed…
Azerbaijan watches closely the Russian invasion of Ukraine
It wasn’t so long ago that Azerbaijan was a focus of global attention, the country a rare feature of international headlines after a simmering dispute with neighbouring Armenia…
Nagorno-Karabakh: Peace – for now
Six weeks of renewed fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh ended last week after Russia brokered a trilateral agreement with the…
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Increasingly deadly and destabilising
The re-emergence of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in September 2020 over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh has taken a much more deadly and destabilising turn…