Armenia hails Crimea referendum. The Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan spoke on the phone with President Putin.

On Monday (26 October), the United Nations Security Council will hold an open briefing to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the children and armed conflict mandate by the General Assembly. Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Gerapetritis is expected to chair the meeting, which is a signature event of Greece’s October Council presidency. The anticipated briefers are Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Vanessa Frazier; UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell; the Special Envoy for Children Affected by Armed Conflict of the African Union (AU), Jainaba Jagne; and the Director of Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, Bethany Ellis. Greece served as the chair of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in 2025, but has yet to be reappointed this year due to the ongoing delays in the allocation of subsidiary body chairs. It has nonetheless continued to prioritise the agenda, including by promoting a resolution addressing the impact of digital technologies on the perpetration of violations and abuses against children, which was adopted unanimously on 19 October as resolution 2832 and was co-sponsored by 93 member states. (For more information, see our 18 October What’s in Blue story.) In addition to organising tomorrow’s signature event, Greece invited civil society briefers focusing on the protection of children to two Council meetings—on Yemen and Syria, on 9 and 12 October, respectively—and chaired a meeting of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict on 13 October. Greece has circulated a concept note ahead of tomorrow’s meeting, which says that the briefing aims to assess the progress achieved in the 30 years since the children and armed conflict agenda was established as well as the challenges it faces. (click image to read more)

On October 23, the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met in Baku with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India. This was the highest level visit by an Indian official to Azerbaijan in a long time. According to the website of the Azerbaijani president, Aliyev fondly recalled his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bishkek and the exchange of views during that meeting. President Ilham Aliyev highly appreciated the visit of India’s Minister of External Affairs to Azerbaijan on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressing its importance for discussing the current state and prospects of bilateral relations. During the meeting, the sides held an extensive exchange of views on the current state of relations between Azerbaijan and India, highlighting ample opportunities to develop cooperation in areas of mutual interest. The sides noted that Azerbaijan and India, as members of the Global South, share similar positions on a number of issues on the international agenda, including matters of concern to countries of the Global South. In this regard, they discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation in political, trade and economic, high-tech, cultural, humanitarian and other fields. The conversation also touched upon the importance of cooperation within international organizations. The sides emphasized the need to intensify political contacts and organize reciprocal visits at various levels, including exchanges involving economic and business delegations, to further advance bilateral relations.