South Caucasus

Benyamin Poghosyan gives an Armenian perspective on the outcome, exploring four possible scenarios.

The ceasefire announced by the State Department came into effect at 0800 local time on Monday.

Iran has officially taken a neutral position in the ongoing conflict, but public opinion, especially in the northern part of the country populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis, is strongly pro- Baku

Secretary of State Pompeo and High Representative Borrell spoke on the phone on a wide range of global issues, including the ongoing war in the South Caucasus

The meeting with the Secretary of State brings the US back to the forefront in the international effort to restart negotiations between the two sides.

Borrell highlighted the necessity of returning to negotiations for Karabakh conflict settlement

A meeting with Putin will therefore be in itself a positive sign. As always however, the devil will be in the detail, and even the personality of Mr Putin may not be enough to untangle this difficult crisis.

Both sides continue to report fighting, especially in the southern sector of the conflict zone

The absence of large numbers of international monitors creates risks for the fragile Georgian democracy. The observation efforts of local NGOs now becomes more important than ever.