Belarus has taken over the chairmanship of the CIS for 2014 after Ukraine renounced it following the Russian annexation of Crimea.

The Turkish Prime Minister has held talks with the Azerbaijani President during a one-day visit of significant importance aimed at consolidating the close relations between the two countries.

Tigran Sargsyan had been Prime Minister for six years during which he oversaw the implementation of a number of unpopular economic measures as Armenia struggled to deal with the global economic downturn.

More casualties on the Karabakh front line. One Armenian officer and one Azerbaijani soldier were killed in separate incidents as the senseless loss of life continues

Another Nalbandian-Mammadyarov meeting is scheduled to take place in Moscow on Friday. Can Russia repeat 2 November 2008?

In this op-ed for commonspace.eu Dennis Sammut argues that the first phase of the Ukraine crisis is now over. In the second phase the west must buy time for Ukraine. It must also re-invent its relations with Russia.

Armenian and Azerbaijani sides report several incidents in the last twenty four hours. One Armenian soldier killed and two Azerbaijanis injured.

Another Armenian soldier was killed today on the Armenia-Azerbaijan line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. The soldier, 19 year old Arayik Babayan was killed on Thursday (27 March) in the afternoon by fire from the opposite side. He is the second Armenian fatality on the front line this week

Catherine Ashton reiterates that "Engagement with our neighbours is an absolute priority for the EU".

"Just because Russia has a deep history with Ukraine does not mean it should be able to dictate Ukraine's future. No amount of propaganda can make right something that the world knows is wrong."