*To read Part One, please click here. Russia seems intent on reproducing in Karabakh the model it had earlier developed in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Donbas—namely, a local proto-state with formal institutions under Russian military protection and economic sustenance (see EDM, December 8, 10,... MORE

Russia’s military “peacekeeping” intervention in Upper (“Nagorno”) Karabakh in November 2020 laid the foundation for a Russian de facto protectorate (see EDM, December 8, 10, 2020). The Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020) has resulted in a partition of Azerbaijan’s former Upper Karabakh Autonomous... MORE

On March 14, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan received the delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), led by this year’s OSCE chairperson-in-office, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde. During their meeting, Aliyev reiterated his positive assessment of the post-war situation in... MORE

Four months have passed since the signing of the ceasefire agreement that ended the Second Karabakh War, on November 9, 2020. Armenia is now embroiled in a political crisis because of the fallout from its decisive defeat in that conflict, while the status of Karabakh... MORE

Armenia’s military top brass has demanded that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government resign “for having brought the country to disaster.” Blaming Pashinian for overall incompetence and the recent lost war, the generals have nevertheless stopped short of attempting a coup d’état (see EDM, February 25,... MORE

On March 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy removed the head of the Executive Committee on Reforms, Mikheil Saakashvili, from his position on the Coordination Council for Urban Planning. The Presidential Office provided no explanation for this sudden decision (Sova, March 5). Zelenskyy had appointed Saakashvili—the... MORE

Following the Moscow-brokered ceasefire and post-war declarations signed by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan that ended the 2020 Second Karabakh War, the international community has generally concluded three things. First is that the Karabakh conflict is over; second, that the benefits of reopening transportation routes are... MORE

The political standoff in Georgia (see EDM, February 24, March 1), temporarily mitigated thanks to European Council President Charles Michel’s mediation between the government and the opposition in Tbilisi on March 2, is highly likely to resume and intensify in the coming days or weeks.... MORE

An estimated 10,000 people gathered in the Novolaksky district of Dagestan, on February 23, to commemorate the anniversary of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s deportation of the Chechens in 1944. The deputy speaker of the Chechen parliament, Shaid Zhamaldaev, attended the event, but no high-ranking Dagestani... MORE

Viewed from Baku and Ankara, the political conflict in Armenia pits military and civilian nationalists unreconciled to defeat in the Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020) versus the armistice-accepting government of Nikol Pashinian. As the former seek to oust the latter from power (see... MORE