Russia and the South Caucasus: Agendas, Priorities and Realities - 2019

The conference was held  on Public Dialogues website (www.publicdialogues.info). It was organized within the framework of "Public Dialogues for Communication between Armenian and Azerbaijani Specialists" project, implemented by Region Research Center.  This project is supported by the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation of German Marshall Fund.  The Institute for Peace and Democracy (the Netherlands) is a partner to the project. The Public Dialogues website was created in 2012 by Region Research Center and the Institute ofor Peace and Democracy.

Who participated in the discussion?

Anush Sedrakyan (Armenia) - Political Scientist

Hikmet Haji-zade (Azerbaijan) - President of the FAR Center

Gela Vasadze (Georgia) - Political Consultant

Andrey Areshev (Russia) - Editor-in-chief of the Scientific Society of Caucasian Studies website www.kavkazoved.info

The conference was moderated by Laura Baghdasaryan (Armenia), Director of Region Research Center.

What issues and aspects were discussed?

- The agendas of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in terms of orientation towards Russia, and vice versa, the priorities of the Russian politics in the South Caucasus in general and in relation to the countries in the region.

- Another crisis in the relations between Tbilisi and Moscow (June 2019) and its consequences for the Georgian and Russian capitals, invested in Russia and Georgia respectively.
- Mutual interests that precondition cooperation between Russia and South Caucasian countries.

- The process of rubbing and fitting between the new authorities of Armenia and the Russian leadership at the moment and the context of the criminal prosecution against the second president of Armenia.

- Mutual understanding between the leaders of Russia and Azerbaijan as demonstrated, what is the reality like?

- Conflicts, as levers of influence on the countries in the region.

- Domestic political significance of the Russian theme in the South Caucasian countries.

- Rationalization of the domestic policies, pursued by the countries in the South Caucasus and by Russia. What can this yield in practical terms for regional cooperation?

- The impact of wider geopolitical contexts (Russia / USA, Russia / EU, Russia/Ukraine, the Syrian crisis, etc.) on the policy of Russia in South Caucasus.

- The next stage of the Russian-Turkish rapprochement, how is this reflected in the South Caucasus region and its countries?

- The Iranian crisis and its potential consequences for South Caucasian countries.

A number of derivative issues and realities of 2019 were identified, analyzed, or discussed, which, to varying degrees, affect or may affect the interests of the countries in the region.

The online conference was held in Russian. Here we present some excerpts in English. Read the full text of the online conference HERE.

On the June Aggravation of Russian-Georgian Relations

Gela Vasadze – Why and how did this happen? The growth of economic and cultural ties between Georgia and Russia, which began even under the previous regime, since the position of the Georgian authorities after the 2008 war implied maximum openness for Russian citizens in the absence of political contacts, led to the Russian leadership (or its specific parts) to have an illusion: the Georgians were ready for the restoration of political contacts and the