The unity of the Georgian Dream coalition has ended and the next election has already begun, only two years after the previous one. A break-up of this big coalition was inevitable; the only surprise is that it has happened so soon.
The Ukrainian crisis has shown to the South Caucasian states that deciding between European and Eurasian integration comes at a high price, but that indecisiveness is an even worse path.
Memorial’s new report documents the involvement of Chechen fighters in the conflict in Donbass. Their presence there is all about Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and a gesture of loyalty to Moscow.
The list of countries wanting to take advantage of Western sanctions to boost their food exports to Russia has nothing in common but the desire to gain a new market.
Georgia continues to try to prove itself a de facto ally of the United States, even without a formal alliance. This is the policy that Georgia needed all along: a stronger security relationship with the United States that makes it feel safer, without raising a red flag of NATO.
Last year, Armenian President Sargsyan committed his country to joining Putin’s Eurasian Union, instead of going toward the EU. A year on, serious discussions between the EU and Yerevan on how to re-launch the relationship have yet to start.
Russian terrorism is deeply rooted in politics, religion, and social issues. Also, it is part and parcel of the global radical movement. Ten years after the terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, the repeat of that tragedy is still possible.
Today, the Islamist militants who attacked a school in Beslan in 2004 are weaker than before. But the fact that the North Caucasus has fallen out of the headlines does not mean that its problems are solved.
