South Caucasus

Disillusioned by the attitude of both Russia and the West during the recent Karabakh War, Armenia should look to making China a key partner for economic, political, and defence cooperation, argues Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are expected to meet in Moscow next week together with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since the recent war they fought with each other, and their 10 November agreement which brought it to an end.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has expressed a need to bolster the country’s demining capabilities, referring to demining as the country’s main task in the restoration of the acquired territories in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ilya II is considered the most important unifying figure in Georgian society, and commands great respect throughout the country. Despite the fact that the Church in recent years has been embroiled in a number of scandals respect for the patriarch has remained very high.

In the South Caucasus, the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia traditionally address their fellow citizens on new year's eve, summing up the year that is ending and welcoming the new year just before the stroke of midnight. It is an old Soviet tradition, that has lingered. This year the messages could not have been more different.